On August 26, 2026, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approved a settlement between Meta Platforms Inc. and 29 state attorneys general in a federal bellwether case concerning alleged harms to children and teens from Facebook and Instagram. The approval ended the advisory jury trial before its fifth day. State Allegations The states alleged that Meta used addictive product features to attract and retain young users, misrepresented or minimized associated risks, and violated state consumer protection laws and the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). Meta denied the allegations and did not admit liability or wrongdoing. Consent Decree Under the consent decree, Meta is expected to pay approximately $12.2 billion over 10 years. The total may rise to $17.1 billion if certain conditions are met, including comparable safety obligations and monetary resolutions involving other social media platforms (“SMPs”). The settlement also includes approximately $459 million to resolve outstanding state claims tied to Cambridge Analytica and creates a $75 million fund for participating states’ investigation and litigation costs. Additionally, the settlement requires Meta to implement a 10-year framework addressing youth safety in participating states. These implementation measures include: - Age assurance: Within one year of the settlement’s effective date, Meta must establish an age-assurance framework designed to assess whether users are under 13 (“U13”), and to develop and test a model to identify U13 users, remove identified U13 accounts, and report annually on enforcement results. - Default time limits for teens: During an initial five-year phase, Meta will restrict teens from accessing its SMPs between 12 AM and 6 AM, disable push notifications from 10 PM to 7 AM, and limit access to its SMPs to two hours per day. Parental approval is required to reduce default time limits. - Parental tools: For teen accounts, Meta must inform parents of