Meta sued for $17 billion amid child safety concerns (Copy)

Person opening Instagram, one of Meta's apps (April Huang)

By April Huang, Staff Writer

On August 18, 2026, several states filed a lawsuit against social media titan Meta on the grounds that the company was addictive to kids and violating state consumer laws, claiming Meta knew about the addictive nature of their products and the risks it posed. In addition to violating state consumer privacy laws, they also claimed that Meta violated COPPA—the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act—by collecting data from children under 13. Four main states are running the jury case— California, Colorado, New Jersey, and Kentucky.

Experts compare this case to what is known as the "Big Tobacco" case, which resulted in the  Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requiring tobacco and cigarette companies to put warning labels on their products to warn consumers of potential health risks. Much like tobacco, social media contains several health risks: excessive social media and internet use can lead to a condition known as internet addiction disorder (IAD). As described by Cash Hilarie et al. in “Internet Addiction: A Brief Summary of Research and Practice,” internet addiction disorder is a condition characterized by “changes in mood, preoccupation with the Internet and digital media, the inability to control the amount of time spent interfacing with digital technology, withdrawal symptoms when not engaged, and a continuation of the behavior despite family conflict.” Several complications of this condition have been recognized, including higher chances of depression and anxiety, sleep disturbance and fatigue, social isolation, and higher chances of impulse-use disorders. 

The trial was expected to last through early October, but it has since concluded on August 26. 

In addition to being required to pay $17 billion to the states, Meta was also forced to make changes to their platform involving minors. As such, the company has agreed to implement various reforms, including a default two hour time limit, a nighttime block spanning midnight to 6 a.m., default night and schooltime notification blocks, a ban on displaying the number of "likes" or reactions to posts made by minors, a ban on cosmetic surgery image filters for minors, and an option for young users to have a "non-personalized feed" that is not run by an algorithm targeting them with content. Meta is required to start implementing these changes no later than one year from the effective date. 

This case marks the start of a growing movement for more restrictions and protections as the dangers of excessive internet usage are being recognized, but it is debatable whether these changes are actually helpful, and some students feel that Instagram hasn't changed much. According to one student, Instagram already had the number of likes disabled for young users, and it didn't have many filters in the first place. These reforms give users a false sense of security, because it may seem like Meta has changed a lot of features, while in reality, they have simply removed some more insignificant aspects.

"This makes you feel like they don't actually care about you," one anonymous MCHS student said.

"Also," that same student said, "if they really cared about your safety, they would automatically turn off the 'non-personalized feed' instead of giving you a choice." Some other students also pointed out that the default two hour time limit only applies to one platform. Therefore, there is a total usage time of four hours allotted across both Instagram and Facebook, hardly an improvement. 

However, other students disagree. "If you have such young kids who are on a platform that can impact their life so much, it will be important to protect them," said Ojasvi Bhat, a junior at Maria Carrillo High School. 

The importance of this case cannot be stressed enough: global social media usage has been on a rising trend since 2012, but cases like these have significantly reduced the amount of screen time people are using. According to Statista, in 2025, global social media usage time decreased from a high of 151 minutes per person daily to 141 minutes per day, certainly an improvement. The downward trend can be attributed to more exposure and public awareness, which may continue to help numbers go down.

The future of social media remains uncertain: whether crackdowns like these will continue or policies will relax is uncertain, but since this case is known as a "bellwether" trial, the evidence and arguments used in this case will set the tone for 2,900 other similar cases against social media companies. 

So hopefully, global social media usage and addiction will continue to lessen as time goes on.