Meta has agreed to pay up to $16.7 billion to a coalition of US states and introduce new safeguards for young users under a settlement reached to end a landmark trial in California, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
The settlement resolves allegations by 29 states that Meta deliberately designed its platforms to keep children and teenagers engaged, misled the public about potential risks and unlawfully collected personal data from children under 13.
A total of 51 states and territories, along with Washington, DC, had initially reached a settlement with Meta. A separate agreement with Texas subsequently raised the company’s total potential payout to around $18bn.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk welcomed the settlement but said stronger action was still needed to protect children online.
“Children should not have to wait for a lawsuit to be safe online,” Mr Turk said on X, adding that the design changes agreed to by Meta were consistent with measures his office had advocated.
He called for safety-focused design standards to be adopted across the technology industry and urged governments to take action instead of waiting for courts or companies to intervene.
In May, Mr Turk called on governments and technology companies to strengthen online protections for children through safer platform design, stronger data safeguards, effective regulation, oversight and accountability.
He warned that simply imposing age restrictions would not address the underlying platform designs and algorithms that could expose children to harm.
Earlier this year, the UN human rights office issued 10 guidelines under the title “Getting Children’s Safety Online Right”. The recommendations included making maximum protection of children’s personal data the default setting and prohibiting commercial “micro-targeting” of children based on their digital profiles.
The guidelines also said emerging risks, including the use of artificial intelligence chatbots and addictive platform features, could warrant age restrictions. They called for independent oversight and legal penalties strong enough to deter violations.
The UN also stressed the need to provide children with access to remedies when their rights are violated.
Peggy Hicks, director of thematic and special procedures at the UN human rights office, said in May that technology companies faced a choice between voluntarily changing how their platforms were designed and operated to protect children, or facing increasingly strict legislation, court verdicts and regulatory fines.
Meanwhile, the European Union said it expected Meta to address potentially “addictive” features on its platforms following the US settlement, which introduces significant restrictions on teen use of Facebook and Instagram in some US states.
The European Commission last month found Meta in violation of the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and ordered the company to propose measures to make its platforms safer for children.
European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said Brussels had held further discussions with Meta since the US settlement and had been monitoring the case “very closely”.
