Company to pay more than $17 billion, implement sweeping child-safety reforms
OKLAHOMA CITY (Aug. 26, 2026) – Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced a landmark $17.1 billion dollar multi-state settlement with Meta Platforms today over the company’s harmful features to children and teens on Facebook and Instagram.
The agreement is one of the largest state consumer protection settlements in history. In addition to payment, Meta must implement a sweeping set of safety features designed to protect children on its social media platforms.
The agreement resolves claims by Oklahoma, 46 other states and Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that the company designed Instagram with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harms and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms.
“This settlement is a monumental victory for the protection of our children, and it will fundamentally transform how the social media industry designs platforms for kids and teens,” Drummond said. “This agreement holds Meta accountable and sends a clear message that protecting children online is mandatory.”
Under the settlement, Oklahoma will receive a guaranteed $235,578,728, which may increase to $334,107,696, if additional core industry members including Snap, YouTube and TikTok agree to similar settlements. Drummond added that harmful online features extend well beyond any one company and credited Meta as the first major platform to reach a comprehensive resolution on youth safety.
The settlement requires Meta to implement a series of safety features on Instagram and Facebook teen user accounts, including:
- Prohibitions on social comparison features, including disabling cosmetic procedure filters and visible “like” or reaction counts, which have been linked to poor mental health outcomes in kids and teens.
- Hard cap daily time limits of two hours for five years across all Meta Social Media Platforms (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, and any new or spinoff features).
- Productive pauses for children including mandatory pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes to interrupt endless scrolling.
- Nighttime blocks restricting children’s access from midnight to 6 a.m. and restricting push notifications from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
- School mode, restricting school-time access for children, eliminating push notifications on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the school year.
- Robust age assurance measures to more effectively verify the age of young users, and prohibiting accounts for children under the age of 13.
- Safer, age-appropriate content controls, including stronger safeguards against bullying, content promoting eating disorders and content related to suicide and self-harm.
- Stronger, more user-friendly and default parental controls.
Both the implementation and efficacy of the features will be regularly assessed by an independent auditor and the settling states. Drummond said the groundbreaking changes to Instagram and Facebook are more significant and comprehensive than previously ordered by any court. Further, the safety requirements tighten if core industry members join or become subject to similar terms.
“This settlement represents a down payment toward an industry-wide social media experience that allows kids to connect in a healthy way,” he said.
Drummond filed his lawsuit against Meta in October 2023. The settlement also resolves Oklahoma's and the other states’ claims against Meta for sharing nonpublic information about Facebook users with third parties like Cambridge Analytica. This settlement is subject to the court’s approval.
