Meta child safety lawsuit and $567M court order
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Meta's $18 billion settlement puts TikTok and YouTube on notice
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the state of California is currently pursuing active litigation against TikTok.
Meta was ordered to pay over $900 million in penalties in a separate social-media case brought by New Mexico.
The remaining $5.3 billion of the settlement is conditional on TikTok and YouTube making similar changes to their apps for younger users.
Meta announces new limits for young users amid child safety pressure
The states accused Meta of violating a federal law on collecting children's personal information.
Meta said it would further tighten its time limit to one hour if other platforms implement similar restrictions.
Mark SooHoo belongs to Wait Until 8th, an organisation where parents pledge to not give their kids smartphones until the end of eighth grade.
Meta's multi-billion dollar settlement mandates new child safety safeguards
Most of the settlement terms are required to remain in place for 10 years.
The settlement includes stronger age assurance technology to remove users under 13 and ensure 13-to-17-year-olds access age-appropriate versions of the apps.
TikTok agreed to a $400 million settlement with the US Department of Justice on August 21 to resolve allegations of children's online privacy law violations.
“This means features like disappearing messages, infinite scroll, the ability to gift and livestreaming remain unaddressed. Similarly, little has been announced on how Meta’s AI chatbots will be made safer – better guardrails are needed, particularly when children raise safeguarding concerns.”
Parents question Meta $18B settlement over kids' social media harms
The settlement agreement includes a provision that states agreed not to sue Meta under existing child safety laws over its retention and use of children's data for the limited purpose of training and testing Meta's age-assurance model.
Meta must develop, train, and begin testing a model designed to detect which users on its platforms are under the age of 13 within a year of the settlement's effective date.
The settlement agreement says the state AGs have agreed not to bring any past, present, or future COPPA claims or claims under similar state laws related to Meta's use of children's data.
Parent activist criticizes Meta settlement as 'peanuts,' calls on Zuckerberg to speak out
Cheryl Brown and other parents joined under the banner ParentsSOS to push Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).
Meta agreed to a $17 billion settlement in a child social media addiction lawsuit.
Meta's settlement includes turning off Instagram for teens overnight.
Meta $18bn settlement and changes for child users on social platforms
Mary Rodee's 15-year-old son died by suicide after becoming the target of online extortion.
29 US states sued Meta over design flaws in its products that the plaintiffs said led to children becoming addicted and allowed them to be contacted by drug dealers, cyberbullied, extorted and abused.
The case sought up to $200bn in fines as well as changes to Meta's products and business practices.
“The fact is that teens move fluidly between dozens of apps a day. All platforms should empower parents and support teens by putting the same measures in place, because we know that when teens are restricted on one app, they simply move to another,”
Meta agrees to sweeping changes to apps for teens in settlement with state AGs
Arturo Béjar, an ex-Facebook employee and whistleblower, said the outcome is not an all-clear to say the product is safe.
Meta agreed to significant changes to its Instagram and Facebook apps in a settlement that ended a landmark lawsuit.
Meta denies wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
“gives notice to others in the industry that we're not done, and we expect similar outcomes from them as well.”
Instagram chief testifies at Meta trial about teen safety feature
Meta made the Take a Break feature the default setting for teenagers in September 2024, nearly three years after its launch.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will decide whether Meta is liable.
George Volichenko, a data scientist who worked on safety features at Instagram in 2022 and 2023, stated that adoption rates of such features were very low.
Meta agrees to $17 billion settlement in child-safety case
Meta has agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion in a settlement with US states.
The settlement deal includes imposing tighter usage limits.
The settlement concerns allegations that Facebook and Instagram misled consumers about their safety.
Meta agrees to $18 billion settlement over child safety claims
Another $5.3 billion of the settlement will be released only if TikTok and YouTube implement specified child-safety measures and make matching payments.
Meta said the payments will be distributed annually over 10 years, with participating states receiving approximately $12.7 billion.
Meta reached an agreement with 52 attorneys general across states, U.S. territories and Washington, D.C., to pay up to $18 billion and overhaul teen experiences on Facebook and Instagram.
Jim Cramer says don't sell Meta on litigation risk
Testimony from CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other company employees is expected.
Meta first confirmed last month that it is laying the groundwork for a cloud business to sell its extra compute to outside customers.
Meta shares are down 26% in 2026, making Meta one of the worst-performing mega-cap tech stocks.
Meta legal troubles drive options trading activity
California AG Bonta comments on state case against Meta
Schmidt addressed eight jury members, asking whether the evidence proves the specific things the states are claiming
Bonta and attorneys general from Colorado, New Jersey and Kentucky are co-leading the trial against Meta on behalf of a bipartisan group of 29 attorneys general
Meta and Google's YouTube lost Los Angeles personal injury proceedings in March
“That's not possible. In an ideal world, they would all commit to the same reforms and changes to all kids and keep them safe.”
Options traders position around Meta's legal risk
META shares are down more than 30% from their highs of a year ago.
Meta faces a $6 million bellwether loss in Los Angeles.
There are roughly 1,300 school-district claims against Meta.
New Mexico court orders Meta to pay additional $567M in child safety case
Meta said it will appeal the judgment.
A Los Angeles court ruled against Meta in March for creating addictive patterns.
A New Mexico Court judge ordered Meta to pay a fine of $567 million on top of the $375 million levied in March.
“We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content. We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts,”