Meta Agrees to $18 Billion Settlement Over Child-Safety Claims on Instagram, Facebook
- Meta will pay roughly $18B to resolve a multistate lawsuit alleging Facebook and Instagram were designed to addict minors; the pact includes default 2-hour daily teen time limits, midnight-to-6 a.m. blocks absent parental consent, and new age-verification systems (WSJ, BBC).
- Analysts said the deal avoids a 'Big Tobacco'-style punitive damages outcome and sets a template that could ripple to TikTok and YouTube, both facing similar claims (Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch).
- Meta shares closed little changed; the cash hit — among the largest social-media settlements ever — comes as the company is already absorbing record AI capex.