Meta has agreed to pay $17 billion to settle a case alleging that it designed its platforms to be addictive and harmful to children, ending a federal trial in Oakland that could have cost the company up to $1.4 trillion and put Mark Zuckerberg on the stand.

The settlement was reached as the trial had just gotten underway at the Oakland federal courthouse, where California Attorney General Rob Bonta was leading the case with attorneys general from Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey, as CBS News reports. The states had accused Meta of designing its platforms to be addictive, misleading users about the risks, and improperly collecting data from children under 13 in violation of COPPA, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

The settlement covers claims brought by 47 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories, and requires Meta to add new child-safety measures to its platforms. According to KTVU, the trial, which began with opening arguments on August 18, has been suspended while the agreement is reviewed by US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

The case began in 2023 with 29 states, including California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey, and eventually grew into a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general seeking roughly $200 billion from the company. 

The stakes were considerably higher if the case went to a full trial, as Meta faced potential penalties of up to $1.4 trillion — nearly the company’s total market value, while CEO Mark Zuckerberg was expected to testify about the company’s handling of child safety, per KTVU.

“Meta wouldn’t settle unless it sees the writing on the wall and feels really exposed,” said Nora Freeman Engstrom, a law professor at Stanford University, speaking to the New York Times.

The company separately agreed Wednesday to pay about $1 billion to settle a similar case brought by Texas.

The proposed agreement calls for Meta to pay more than $16.8 billion, with more than $2 billion reportedly earmarked for California. About $12 billion would be distributed to the participating states over 10 years. Meta said it would pay the remaining $5 billion if YouTube, TikTok, and Snap agree to implement similar protections for young users and match their share of the payment, per the Times.

As the Chronicle reports, the settlement would also require Meta to make changes to Facebook and Instagram within months, including stronger age-assurance measures, parental controls, and restrictions on how minors use the platforms. Users under 18 would have daily usage limits that only parents could lift, with default restrictions including a two-hour daily cap, blocked use between midnight and 6 am, and no notifications during school hours or overnight.

The company will also stop showing "like" counts to minors and remove cosmetic surgery filters on Instagram. Under the settlement the company will also be required to respond to 90% of teen reports involving potentially harmful content within six hours, while giving users under 18 the option of a feed that does not use algorithms designed to encourage endless scrolling. Content controls would also be strengthened around bullying, eating disorders, self-harm, and other potentially harmful material.

“Today, we have secured a settlement with Meta that will make social media less dangerous for our kids and make a world of a difference for children and their families,” Bonta said. “Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms — and will do it within months.”

The states’ case included testimony from former Meta engineering director Arturo Béjar, who said the company designed its platforms to keep users engaged even when that engagement could harm their mental health, according to CBS News.

“If you step away from the product, they are not going to make any money,” Béjar testified.

Per the Chronicle, the proposed settlement comes as California lawmakers are considering a bill that would prohibit social media companies from allowing children under 16 to create accounts, a measure Governor Gavin Newsom has indicated he supports. Bonta said California’s share of the settlement would be directed toward preventing or addressing mental health and other harms to young people associated with social media.

Meta has reportedly characterized the agreement as a new industry standard and said it wants other social media companies to adopt similar measures. 

“Ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms is an absolute imperative for Meta,” the company said, per the Chronicle. “We want to get this right for parents and teens, and that’s why we partnered with state attorneys general to set a new industry standard.”

The company continues to face thousands of lawsuits from states, school districts, and individual teenagers alleging that its platforms are addictive and harmful to children. Some of the individual cases are scheduled for trial in California in October, while separate federal cases involving Meta and other social media companies are being heard in Oakland, according to the Times.

Meta and YouTube lost their first personal-injury trial in March, resulting in $6 million in damages, and a New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay nearly $1 billion this month over consumer-protection violations involving child safety. Meta has said it will continue fighting the remaining cases.

Related: Meta Ordered to Pay $567M, Implement Safeguards as Part of New Mexico Child Mental Health Trial

Top image caption: California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks at a news conference after court at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse on August 18, 2026 in Oakland, California. State attorneys general are alleging that Meta attempted to deceive the public by allowing features on their platforms, Facebook and Instagram, that harm children's mental health and are intended to be addictive. (Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)