The Markup
· collected 2026-08-24 · by Colin Lecher, Maria Martha Bruno, and Natalia Viana
Story summary
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has agreed to pay up to $18 billion as part of a settlement with 47 US states and territories over allegations that its platforms were designed to be addictive and harmed teenage users. The agreement, which still requires court approval, includes new child-safety rules such as daily time caps, school-hour notification bans, stronger age checks, and expanded parental controls aimed at limiting access to harmful content.
As part of the settlement, Meta will also make changes to its platforms, including imposing a default two-hour limit for teenage users, setting up "night" and "school" modes to block or reduce notifications during certain times, and removing features that encourage addictive behavior. The company has also agreed to pay $16.7 billion in damages.
The settlement comes after years of lawsuits and public pressure on Meta to address concerns about the impact of its platforms on children's mental health. Some critics have argued that the agreement does not go far enough, with one commentator suggesting that Meta is trying to "buy its way out" of accountability.
In related news, the UK government has expressed hopes that Meta's new protections for teenagers in the US will also apply in the UK. However, some experts have noted that age verification remains a challenge due to the ease with which teenagers can bypass network-level blocks using virtual private networks (VPNs).
Written for “Meta Teen Addiction Settlements” on 2026-08-31,
grounded in this article and the 8 other(s) covering the same event.
This story was produced in partnership with Agência Pública as part of a series on how regulatory solutions adopted in Brazil could point the way for the U.S.
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solutions → produce → U.S.
Alarming trends in teen mental health and increased social media use led California to pass a new wave of laws to protect kids online.
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trends → increase → kids
The state enacted protections to prevent children’s data from being sold, to give kids an opportunity to delete what they post, and to require businesses that target children to manage potential risks.
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that → enact → risks
Future legislation could ban social media altogether for many teens.
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legislation → ban → teens
Some of those regulations face legal challenges, but together, the laws amount to some of the strictest privacy safeguards for children in the United States.
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laws → face → States
California’s laws are considered stronger than the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, which is geared toward protecting children’s privacy.
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which → consider → privacy
Under that law, website operators must obtain parental permission before collecting information on kids under 13 if their site is targeted toward, or knowingly collects information about children.
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site → obtain → children
California’s laws expand the ages protected and place further restrictions on product design.
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laws → expand → design
To some extent, California sets childrens’ privacy policy for the entire country, since companies may choose to provide California’s more stringent protections to children nationwide rather than carve out protections just for the most populous U.S. state.
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companies → set → state
But despite policies that are extensive when compared to the rest of the country, California’s regulations still lag well behind those of other countries.
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regulations → compare → countries
As California passed various child privacy laws, countries like Brazil passed comprehensive legislation that overlaps with some California policies, while going even further.
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that → pass → policies
Experts say the United States and California face unique hurdles in passing children’s privacy laws that other countries don’t.
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countries → say → laws
Among those are First Amendment challenges, different conceptions of privacy, and — maybe most importantly — a tech industry that sees strict privacy laws as an existential threat to its future.
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that → see → future
California has led the way nationally for a decade on protecting kids online, and more recently has picked up more steam.
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California → lead → steam
“California, everything there is changing and changing fairly dramatically within the last just four years,” said Ed Howard, Senior Policy Advocate for the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego.
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Howard → change → Diego
Like the federal law, the California Consumer Privacy Act, passed in 2018, requires companies to obtain parental permission to collect data on kids under13.
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Act → pass → kids
But it also protects teens between 13 and 16 by forcing companies to make them consent before their data can be gathered.
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data → protect → companies
In 2022, the Legislature enacted the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act.
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Legislature → enact → Act
That law requires companies to estimate ages, then ensure they provide, by default, strict privacy protections for underage users.
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they → require → users
The law also limits the use of so-called “dark patterns,” which provide an illusion of choice for users while steering their behavior in certain directions.
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which → limit → directions
“If there’s a product that’s likely to be accessed by children, it has to be, by design and by default, safe for them,” said Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat who worked on that legislation.
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who → ’ → legislation
Wicks also authored a measure that next year will require companies to include a “signal” system that will tell businesses a device user’s approximate age.
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that → author → age
The law would be among the strictest in the country, although a series of legal challenges by the tech industry have left it partly defanged.
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series → leave → it
Another law, the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act of 2024, bans social media companies from showing minors “addictive” feeds without parental consent and limits the hours when companies can send notifications to teens.
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companies → protect → teens
The law, which goes into effect in 2027, has already survived legal challenges.
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which → go → challenges
Bills now before the Legislature would ban kids under 16 from “addictive” social media entirely, in a step that has earned the ire of some online privacy groups over fear it would end online anonymity by requiring age verification at sign-up.
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it → ban → sign
More recently, the state has begun regulating artificial intelligence, passing a law to impose mental health safeguards on chatbots.
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state → begin → chatbots
That legislation was passed in response to a series of troubling incidents, including the death of California teenager Adam Raine, who talked about suicide with ChatGPT for months before eventually taking his own life.
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who → pass → life
The death is just one in a series of several incidents involving teens that have alarmed legislators.
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that → involve → legislators
Raine’s mother, Maria, recently testified in front of Senate Privacy, Digital Technologies, and Consumer Protection Committee, calling for stricter protections.
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mother → testify → protections
ChatGPT, she said, was “a homework helper [that] turned into a confidant, then a suicide coach.”
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that → say → confidant
Under a law enacted last year, AI chatbots are required to disclose that they are not real people and companies must take reasonable steps to prevent children from seeing graphic content.
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companies → enact → content
The Legislature is considering bills to further govern how chatbots can interact with kids online.
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chatbots → consider → kids
Those would require AI companies to make annual risk assessments on potential mental health harms and create controls that let parents limit how kids interact with bots.
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kids → require → bots
The flurry of legislation is a marked contrast to the federal picture, as Congress has repeatedly failed to agree on terms for national laws.
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Congress → fail → laws
This session, lawmakers are considering the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, which would expand several privacy laws.
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which → consider → laws
But the act faces criticism from child safety advocates for not forcing strong enough legal obligations on tech companies, and from civil rights organizations over free speech concerns.
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act → face → concerns
The act may be doomed as the House and Senate argue over its provisions.
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House → doom → provisions
For years, advocates have pointed to research linking teens’ mental health to social media use in arguing for stronger protections.
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advocates → point → protections
A substantial proportion of teens say social media has damaged their mental health, and heavy social media use is linked to increased risk of anxiety and depression.
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use → say → anxiety
…and 38 more, not listed.
