Meta's teen-safety settlement ships as a product spec, and pays $5.3B if rivals adopt it

The proposed agreement brings 47 states, the District of Columbia and US territories into the deal, not just the attorneys general party to the original lawsuit.

Mashable reports Meta will pay $12 billion to the 52 state attorneys general over 10 years, adding an additional $5 billion if other defendants including Snap, TikTok and YouTube also agree to the settlement.

The settlement is less than 10% of Meta's 2025 annual revenue of $201 billion, and significantly less than the potential $200 billion penalty the states said would be likely during the early stages of the trial.

Mashable reports the platform changes include one-hour daily limits, screen time features such as night mode, and stronger age assurance measures.

The case was brought by 29 state attorneys general and represented claims from 47 states, the District of Columbia and US territories as part of a federal multidistrict litigation.

Meta chief legal officer CJ Mahoney told CNET that because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps an industry-wide solution is needed, and called on TikTok and YouTube to implement the new framework right away.

Florida is not party to the agreement; its attorney general James Uthmeier called the payouts 'peanuts', described the deal as 'nothing more than a slap on the wrist for a trillion-dollar corporation that has already paid more to its lawyers than it will pay the states', and said 'We'll see them at trial.'

New Mexico and Texas are also not part of the deal; Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that Meta will pay over $1 billion to remediate child safety concerns.

Co-lead plaintiffs' counsel Lexi Hazam and settlement counsel Chris Seeger said thousands of young people and public school districts still have claims pending in the MDL against Meta, as well as TikTok, Snap and YouTube.

New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said he had hoped a nationwide settlement would echo the full strength of the protections New Mexico secured in court, including a direct ban on romantic and sexualized AI chatbot interactions with minors, but called the settlement real progress.

Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project, said the settlement is historic but that children and teens cannot truly be protected until the protections are required on every platform and are permanent, which only Congress can do.

The two publishers state different default caps for the same settlement: CNET reports a 2-hour daily limit, Mashable reports one-hour daily limits.

Over $12 billion paid across 10 years averages about $1.2 billion a year, roughly 0.6% of Meta's stated $201 billion of 2025 revenue.

Meta said it expects to pay $10 billion in legal expenses in the third quarter.

Meta struck a deal with US states suing it over addictive design aimed at children and teens, avoiding trial; the deal was approved by US Federal Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers hours after it was initially filed.

Mashable reports Meta agreed to a $17 billion settlement two days into the trial.

CNET's stated components, over $12 billion plus a contingent $5.3 billion, sum to at least $17.3 billion, about $700 million below the $18 billion total it reports, while court filings cap payments to states and territories at $16.68 billion.

Meta's expected $10 billion of third-quarter legal expenses is less than the over $12 billion it has agreed to pay states, so the disclosed figures do not support the Florida claim that Meta has paid lawyers more than it will pay the states.