Meta agreed on Wednesday to settle claims that Instagram and Facebook harmed young people's mental health, state attorneys general said. The states call the deal worth "up to" $17.1 billion. But much of that sum is not locked in. Meta must pay states $12.19 billion over 10 years, the Connecticut Attorney General's office said. The total only grows to $17.1 billion if TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat agree to similar safety terms and payments. Each of those companies faces its own state action, the office said.
CBS News described the split a little differently. It put the base at $12.1 billion and the added part at $5 billion. Both accounts come to about $17.1 billion. The dossier does not give the exact split in the Connecticut figures, so the parts are reported as each source gave them. Even the full amount is a small slice of Meta's business. CBS News and PBS said $17.1 billion is a fraction of Meta's 2025 revenue of $201 billion. Meta also settled on its own with Texas, which was not in the multistate deal. CBS News said that brought Meta's total to roughly $18 billion.
Meta agreed to the deal but denied doing anything wrong, CBS News reported. It called the settlement an important step, and it urged rivals to do the same. "While this is an important step, these protections will only be truly effective if our peers, TikTok and YouTube, put the same measures in place," a Meta spokesperson said, according to CBS News.
Under the deal, Meta must add safety features to Instagram and Facebook. There is a combined two-hour daily time limit for children across the two apps. Users would get required pauses after 15 minutes of steady use, and again at 60 and 90 minutes, the Connecticut office said. These limits stay in place for five years. If Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube adopt similar terms, the daily limit would apply to each app on its own, the office said. Meta must also bar minors from the apps at night, CBS News reported. It must mute push notifications during school hours. It must make age checks and parental controls stronger. And it must limit social-comparison features such as "like" counts. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the changes include a ban on plastic surgery filters. He said they would take effect within months. Tong said Meta must roll out the reforms "over the next year, and in some instances much sooner."
The first lawsuits came in 2023. That year, 29 states, including California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, sued Meta, CBS News reported. The states said Meta built addictive features and hid the risks. Meta denied this. The deal ended a trial that had opened last week in Oakland, California. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been expected to testify there, PBS reported. The count of places now involved differs by source. CBS News and the Associated Press cited 47 states. Connecticut's office described 51 attorneys general. Meta cited 52 attorneys general across states, territories and Washington, D.C.
Some states said what they expect to get. Connecticut expects up to $265.4 million. At least half would go to repair youth harms from social media. That includes mental health and crisis support, after-school and summer programs, and phone-free school zones, the Connecticut office said. California expects at least $1.5 billion. New Jersey expects at least $525 million. Massachusetts expects at least $366 million. Virginia's share is worth $353 million, according to CBS News and PBS. The deal also resolves Connecticut's investigation into Meta's sharing of nonpublic Facebook user data with outside groups such as Cambridge Analytica, the office said.
Tong was sharply critical of the company. "Meta strip-mined the souls of America's children for maximum profit with abusive and addictive features that unleashed a youth mental health catastrophe," he said. Meta denies any wrongdoing. The settlement still needs approval from U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Northern District of California.