A settlement announced Wednesday between Meta and dozens of US states has ended one of the company's largest legal battles, though the social media giant still faces other lawsuits over its products' effects on young people's mental health.
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The agreement ended a high-profile trial underway in federal court in Oakland, California, where the parent company of Facebook and Instagram faced allegations that it deliberately designed features to make children addicted to its platforms.
Under the settlement, Meta will pay up to $18 billion and will make changes to how its platforms operate, along with introducing new child safety protections.
The case is one of several working through courts across the United States, where Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube are defending themselves against claims that their platforms harmed children's mental health or caused other damage. Below are the key legal cases filed against social media companies.
A joint case from California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey
The settlement came during the second week of a trial in Oakland that had been expected to last six weeks and was likely to include testimony from several witnesses, including Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.
Four states served as plaintiffs in the case: California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey. These states were among dozens that sued Meta three years ago, targeting the way it designed platform features and the harm the states said resulted for children.Trials for the remaining 25 states were expected to begin later, but the settlement halted those proceedings as well.
The states had been seeking substantial financial damages that could theoretically have reached billions of dollars, in addition to court-ordered changes to how Facebook and Instagram operate.
Tennessee: Instagram harms children's mental health
The settlement also ended a separate trial underway in Tennessee against Meta.
Tennessee's attorney general's office had taken part in the multistate investigation into social media companies that led dozens of states to sue Meta in 2023, but Tennessee chose to pursue its case separately in a local court.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said his office took Meta to court because Instagram was harming children and misleading parents. He said the trial has now concluded with a settlement that imposes unprecedented child safety measures and provides a record payment to Tennessee's digital child protection fund.
Skrmetti and several other attorneys general said the settlement addresses Meta's role in what they called an industry-wide problem, and called on other social media platforms to adopt similar safety measures.
New Mexico: Major fines and mandatory changes
New Mexico was not among the 48 states that joined the settlement, because it had already won its case against Meta separately.
The state had argued that Meta knew its platforms harmed children's mental health and had concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its services.
In March, a jury sided with the state, finding thousands of violations, with each violation counted separately toward a penalty reaching $375 million. In early August, a judge ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million to address harm suffered by young people from using its platforms, during the second phase of the trial.
The judge also imposed new safety measures, including a 90-hour monthly usage cap for users under 18, restrictions on AI-based chatbots, and mandatory warnings on the platforms.
Meta said it disagreed with the ruling.
The other state that did not join the settlement was Florida, where the attorney general said the agreement was not strict enough on Meta.
Hundreds of school districts sue social media companies
Hundreds of school districts across the United States have filed lawsuits against major social media companies, seeking compensation for costs they said they incurred addressing harm to children's mental health caused by social media addiction.
A lawsuit filed by a small rural school district in Kentucky had been scheduled to go to trial this summer in federal court in California, but the defendant companies, Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, each reached settlements before the trial began.
The Kentucky case had been selected as a test case from among 1,200 similar lawsuits.Plaintiffs' lawyers said in a statement that the focus remains on achieving justice for the remaining 1,200 school districts that have filed suits.
Los Angeles jury finds Meta and YouTube liable
Earlier this year, a jury found Meta and YouTube liable for damages in a case centered on social media addiction, with allegations that both companies designed their platforms to make young users more attached to them without regard for their safety.
The plaintiff, identified by the initials KGM, testified in court that she became addicted to social media during her childhood, and that this worsened her mental health problems.
After more than 40 hours of deliberation, a majority of the jury sided with her claims and awarded her $6 million in total damages.
The case was the first of its kind and was randomly selected as a test case to allow both sides to gauge how a jury would respond to their arguments, a result that could influence similar lawsuits.
TikTok and Snapchat were also defendants in the case but reached settlements before the trial began. Both Meta and YouTube have appealed the verdict.
Thousands of individual lawsuits
The Los Angeles trial was the first of its kind, but it is not the only one. Thousands of similar lawsuits have been filed by individuals against social media companies.
Many of these cases allege that the platforms' design caused users to become addicted to social media, leading to negative effects on their mental health.
But plaintiffs also point to other harms they say resulted from young people's use of these platforms.Among these cases are lawsuits filed by families of children and young people who died by suicide after problematic social media use, along with families who lost children to accidental drug overdoses following purchases facilitated through social media platforms.
