Social media giant Meta has agreed to a $18bn (£13.3bn) settlement with US states and territories to resolve claims that Facebook and Instagram harmed children.
A California judge approved the settlement, which Meta must pay to 48 states, plus the District of Columbia and three US territories, marking the company’s largest payment over child safety litigation to date.
Meta will also implement a host of changes aimed at better protecting kids online, which the states had demanded, including default daily time limits and night-time blocks.
“This is a major moment to clean up an industry that has been hurting our kids,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
Meta has denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement and said on Wednesday that the payment it agreed to “will be distributed in annual instalments over a 10-year period”.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approved the settlement, writing that it “reflects a fair, reasonable, comprehensive, and good faith approach not only to provide monetary relief, but importantly, to change conduct in a way that attempts to meaningfully address the negative impacts of the social media platforms at issue”.
Source: BBC