Meta Escapes $1.4 Trillion Penalty! Reaches Settlement in Social Media Addiction 'Life-or-Death' Lawsuit, Paying Up to $18 Billion

Meta denied allegations from 29 U.S. states that it induced addiction among children and teenagers through product design and illegally collected children's data, but agreed to a settlement of up to approximately $18 billion. As part of the settlement terms, Meta will limit daily usage time for minors, enforce mandatory "pauses" and nighttime restrictions, strengthen age verification, parental controls, and harmful content protections, and restrict features that may intensify social comparison, such as "like counts" and beauty filters, while also accepting independent audit oversight.