Meta Agrees to Pay €15 Billion Over Claims It Addicted Children

Meta has reached a settlement worth approximately €15.4 billion (about $18 billion) to end a major lawsuit in the United States. Multiple American states filed the case, claiming that Meta intentionally used addictive features to keep young people glued to Facebook and Instagram for as long as possible.

The states also accused Meta of breaking privacy laws by collecting personal data from children under 13 without their parents' permission. Meta faced the possibility of losing much more in court—if it had lost this case, it could have owed $200 billion in damages, more than ten times the settlement amount. This settlement avoids that catastrophic outcome and prevents the lawsuit from becoming a legal precedent that could have opened the door to thousands of similar cases against Meta.

As part of the deal, Meta has promised to redesign its apps to make them less addictive. This means removing features like disappearing messages and auto-playing videos (which keep people scrolling without thinking). The company will also hide the number of "likes" from accounts belonging to minors, limit how long children can use Instagram and Facebook each day, and turn off push notifications during school hours. Meta will also strengthen parental controls and improve age-verification systems to prevent bullying and harmful content.

By settling rather than fighting in court, Meta avoided even greater reputational damage. If the company had lost, CEO Mark Zuckerberg would have had to testify publicly, and a jury verdict stating that Meta deliberately harmed children would have been far more damaging than a settlement without admitting wrongdoing.