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Meta has agreed to pay up to US$18 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by 29 American states over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed to addict young users and harvested their data illegally.
A coalition of 29 US states is pursuing what experts call social media's "big tobacco moment," seeking approximately $200 billion in penalties from Meta for allegedly designing addictive products targeting children and deceiving the public about risks.
Meta's leadership has apologised to India's government for restricting a post by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and for operational failures in combating child sexual abuse material on its platforms.
Tennessee's lawsuit against Meta claims the company deliberately ignored its own research showing Instagram harms teenagers through addictive features, prioritising profits over safety in a trial with major implications across the US.