Meta Settles $2.2 Billion Youth Safety Lawsuit Amid Big Tech Scrutiny

Meta has agreed to pay $2.2 billion to settle a federal lawsuit over youth safety claims, alleging that Facebook and Instagram were intentionally designed to be addictive for minors and that the company illegally harvested children's data.

The settlement comes just days after the trial began in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The coalition of 29 state attorneys general, co-led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, had originally sought damages that could have ballooned to roughly $200 billion across the four leading plaintiff states.

Meta's social media platforms were accused of being designed with features specifically engineered to keep young users scrolling and collecting personal data from children in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

The company reported more than $2 billion in legal expenses tied to these types of cases in a single recent quarter, making the settlement equivalent to what it was already burning through in legal fees over a three-month period.