Meta to Pay Up to $17.1B in Teen Addiction Settlement

Meta is poised to shell out one of the largest tech penalties on record—and overhaul how its apps hook young users. In what the New York Times calls "a dramatic capitulation," the company behind Facebook and Instagram agreed to pay as much as $17.1 billion and introduce sweeping product changes to resolve claims by 47 states, DC, and US territories that it endangered children with addictive design features and violated child privacy and consumer protection laws. The deal, filed in federal court in Oakland, will initially cost Meta about $12 billion, rising if Snap, TikTok, and YouTube ink similar pacts.

Meta agreed to cap teens' daily time on its platforms, curb overnight use and notifications, disrupt endless scrolling, rein in beauty filters and "like" tallies, and beef up age checks and parental controls—changes that could ripple across the social media industry. Just 7% of the payment is due now, per CNBC. Once finalized, neither Meta nor the states can appeal. Meta shares were up about 5% in premarket trading following the news.