OAKLAND, Calif. — Meta on Wednesday agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion in penalties and add child-safety measures to Facebook and Instagram, a decision that ends a landmark trial over claims that children were being put at risk with addictive social media platforms.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reached the agreement with 47 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, The New York Times reported.
The settlement ends the federal trial, which was being held in the U.S. Northern District of California in Oakland, according to the newspaper.
California, Colorado, Kentucky and Maine were seeking approximately $200 billion in damages over claims that Meta was harming children. The states filed their agreement early Wednesday, and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is expected to sign it, the Times reported.
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri had been expected to take the stand for a second day of testimony, CNN reported. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was also expected to testify.
Meta has denied the allegations.
The agreement was worth $353 million in Virginia alone and is one of the biggest in state consumer protection history, Attorney General Jay Jones said in a statement.
“For years, Meta intentionally deceived the public about the addictive and harmful design features that have wreaked havoc on youth mental health,” Jones said, according to the Times. (“The settlement) will put an end to these dangerous practices and deliver meaningful relief that will protect children from online harm.”
Meta will initially pay approximately $12 billion, according ot the newspaper. That figure will jump to $17.1 billion if Snap, TikTok and YouTube also settle with the states and agree to financial penalties and product changes.
“Meta wouldn’t settle unless it sees the writing on the wall and feels really exposed,” Nora Freeman Engstrom, a law professor at Stanford University, told the Times.
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