Meta agrees to $18 billion settlement over child-privacy violations and pledges new safety measures

Meta announced on Wednesday that it will settle a multi-state lawsuit alleging violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) with a payment of up to $18 billion over ten years. The settlement ends a five-day trial that focused on the company’s collection and use of data from users under 13 years old. While Meta did not admit wrongdoing, the agreement requires the firm to introduce a series of safety features for its Instagram and Facebook platforms.

Among the new measures, a default two-hour daily usage limit will apply to identified teen accounts, although direct messages will be exempt. Notifications will be silenced between midnight and 06:00 and during school hours on weekdays, and likes on posts will be hidden for teen users. Meta plans to roll out most of these changes within six months, with broader age-verification tools expected within a year.

The settlement follows years of litigation and public scrutiny of social-media companies’ impact on children. A former Instagram employee who blew the whistle said he warned executives about harmful content affecting minors, but no action was taken. Internal documents cited by the court indicated that Meta sometimes preferred paying fines over modifying its practices, and that opt-in safety tools had low adoption rates.

Industry observers note that the $18 billion figure is far lower than the potential maximum penalty, which could have reached $1.4 trillion based on the number of child users. The agreement is seen as a step toward broader regulatory pressure on the sector, with experts suggesting similar safeguards may be adopted by rivals such as TikTok and Snapchat.

"At the end of the day, Meta needs to be held accountable for results, not efforts," said a legal analyst familiar with the case.

Additional reporting by Kali Hays.