Kathmandu— Meta has agreed to an approximately $18 billion settlement with 52 attorneys general across the United States, resolving a lawsuit that accused the company of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to young users. The case centered on allegations that Meta misled consumers about platform safety, improperly collected data from children under 13, and encouraged compulsive use among teenagers. The agreement, reached during a federal trial in California, avoids a jury ruling and spares CEO Mark Zuckerberg from testifying, while also mandating significant changes to how the platforms operate for users under 18.

Terms of the Settlement

The $18 billion will be paid out over ten years and dedicated to funding youth online safety initiatives. In addition to the financial payout, Meta will implement several changes to Facebook and Instagram aimed at protecting young users. These include a daily two-hour time limit for teens across both apps (unless overridden by parental permission), blocked access between midnight and 6 AM, and muted notifications during school hours.

Platform Changes for Minors

The settlement also requires Meta to offer teenagers a non-algorithmic feed option, allow the disabling of autoplay features, hide like counts by default, and strengthen age verification and parental controls. These measures are slated to remain in effect for ten years. The company stated that it will pay out 30% – or $5.3 billion – of the settlement only if TikTok and YouTube adopt similar safeguards and make matching payments.

Internal Research Revealed Harmful Trends

The lawsuit stemmed from claims based on Meta’s own internal research and communications, which revealed that teenagers were disproportionately exposed to harmful content related to suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, bullying, and violence. Court documents showed instances where data highlighting these trends was deliberately removed from presentations to company leadership at the advice of legal counsel, in order to avoid creating a paper trail. Instagram product design director Francesco Fogu admitted he agreed to remove statistics because “at the end of the day, I didn’t care.”

Meta Maintains Its Position

Throughout the case, Meta has denied any wrongdoing and maintained its commitment to protecting children and teenagers online. The company also disputed the claim that Facebook and Instagram were intentionally designed to be addictive, arguing that “social media addiction” is not a recognized psychiatric condition.

While this settlement resolves the multi-state lawsuit, Meta continues to face thousands of individual lawsuits from families and school districts alleging harm to young users. Judicial approval of the agreement is still required.

(With inputs from RT)

Originally published on abcnews.com.np.