Meta Agrees to $18.5 Billion Settlement with U.S. States to Protect Teens

Meta has reportedly agreed to an approximately $18.5 billion multi-state settlement in a case accusing it of designing its platforms in a way that fosters teenage addiction and harms their mental health.

According to reports, the terms of the settlement include imposing a default daily time limit of two hours on Facebook and Instagram usage for teens aged 13 to 17, in a step considered the largest of its kind in social media regulation.

This settlement follows years of legal proceedings launched by state attorneys general, who accused Meta of knowingly designing its algorithms to keep children on the platform for as long as possible, despite being aware of the resulting psychological harms.

The settlement carries significant weight for the digital advertising sector, as the new time limits reduce the available ad inventory on Meta's platforms for the 13–17 age group, which may prompt advertisers to reconsider the allocation of their ad budgets across various platforms.

What do these terms mean?

**Multi-state settlement:** A legal agreement made by a company with multiple local governments simultaneously to avoid separate trials, usually involving financial compensation and policy changes.

**Ad inventory:** The number of advertisements a platform can display during a specific time frame, directly linked to the number of users and their usage duration.