Judge approves multistate Meta settlement over teen account settings
A federal judge approved a multistate settlement that requires Meta to pay billions to states and change default teen settings on Instagram and Facebook.
A federal judge in Oakland, California, approved a multistate settlement with Meta that will send billions of dollars to states and require changes to default teen settings on Instagram and Facebook.
Chief U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers entered the consent judgment and said the agreement was “fair, reasonable, and equitable,” according to the source text.
What the settlement says
The settlement calls for the multistate group that tried the case to receive between $12.1 billion and $17.1 billion, with Texas getting more than $1 billion on top of that amount, the source says. The injunctive terms can run for up to 10 years.
According to the source, teen account defaults must be set more protectively. Time spent messaging, watching long-form video, or in settings will not count against the daily limit. Teens will need parent approval to loosen the defaults, but they can tighten them on their own.
The source says the money may be used for 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline expansion, after-school and summer programs, youth mental health programming, digital literacy counselors, phone-free school zones, and grants to school districts and other local government entities.
What Texas said
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the state’s share of the settlement, saying it would fund youth mental health services, crisis resources, digital literacy initiatives, after-school programs, and grants to Texas schools, according to the source.
Paxton said, “This is a historic settlement and a major win for the safety of Texas children.”
The source says how Texas grants will be administered has not yet been announced.
Meta’s response and next steps
Meta chief legal officer C.J. Mahoney said the company denies the allegations and liability, and that the consent judgment cannot be used as an admission or precedent, according to the source. Meta also expects about $10 billion in legal expense in the third quarter tied to the agreement.
The settlement is the third over-$1 billion deal Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has reached with a major technology company, following a $1.4 billion Meta settlement in 2024 over facial recognition data and a $1.375 billion Google privacy settlement, the source says. The source also says Paxton is scheduled to take TikTok to trial this fall in a separate child-safety case.
Sources
Editorial note: This article was prepared with AI assistance and includes source attribution for reader review.
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