News Releases

Commonwealth of Virginia
Office of the Attorney General

For media inquiries only, contact:  
Rae Pickett
RPickett@oag.state.va.us

Attorney General Jay Jones Announces a $17 Billion Landmark Settlement with Meta with $353 Million Guaranteed for Virginia 

Settlement requires Meta to implement sweeping child-safety reforms for Virginians on Instagram and Facebook after deceiving the public about teen mental health harms

RICHMOND, Va. –Today, Attorney General Jones announced a $17 billion settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc. of which Virginia will receive a guaranteed $353 million. This settlement is one of the largest state consumer protection settlements in history outside the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s. In addition to the payment, Meta must implement a sweeping set of safety features designed to protect children on Instagram and Facebook. The agreement resolves claims by 47 other States and D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana 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, among other things. This settlement is a monumental victory for the protection of America’s children and will fundamentally transform how the entire social media industry designs products for kids and teens. Under the settlement, which remains subject to the approval of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the Virginia Attorney General’s office will receive $353 million. 

“For years, Meta intentionally deceived the public about the addictive and harmful design features that have wreaked havoc on youth mental health. I am elated to announce a settlement agreement that will put an end to these dangerous practices and deliver meaningful relief that will protect children from online harm,” said Attorney General Jay Jones. “For the past five years, this office and its dedicated public servants have stood tall against one of the largest tech giants in the country and refused to back down in the face of costly and time-consuming investigations, legal battles, and sophisticated legal schemes to prevent accountability. Today’s historic settlement proves that no matter how deep a company’s pockets, or how vast their legal armies, when major corporations and Big Tech companies put the safety of our children at risk to turn a profit, Virginia will bring them to justice. With this relief, Virginia will finally be able to put substantial resources behind initiatives to undo these harms, prevent future harms and change the face of how young people interact with social media for years to come by continuing to hold social media companies accountable.”  

The proposed settlement requires Meta to implement a series of safety features on Instagram and Facebook, including: 

·     A hard cap on daily time limits and “Productive Pauses” for children: for its two platforms, Instagram and Facebook, a combined two-hour daily time limit with mandatory pauses after 15 minutes of continuous use, and additional pauses at 60 and 90 minutes to interrupt endless scrolling. “Nighttime blocks” restricting children’s access from 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. 

·     Limited school-time access for children, eliminating push notifications on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. during the school year. 

·     Robust age assurance measures to more effectively verify the age of young users. 

·     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 parental controls. 

·     Limits on social comparison features, including beauty filters and visible “like” counts, which have been consistently linked to poor mental health outcomes in children and teens. 

·     Both the implementation and efficacy of the features will be regularly assessed by an independent auditor and the settling states. 

These groundbreaking changes to Instagram and Facebook are more significant and comprehensive than previously ordered by any court. Most importantly, this settlement represents a down payment toward an industry-wide social media experience that allows children to connect in healthier, safer ways. 

Beginning in 2021, nearly every attorney general in the country came together to investigate the social media industry for designing and promoting platforms to children and teens despite known harms. After a bipartisan, nationwide investigation found that Meta designed Instagram’s features to addict children while internally documenting the resulting mental health harms and failing to warn parents, the attorneys general sued Meta individually or as part of a consolidated federal lawsuit. This settlement resolves those cases and claims by the other settling states and territories. Throughout several administrations, the Commonwealth has remained an integral part of this investigation and lawsuit – proving that the health and safety of our children is a fight all Virginians can get behind.  

The settlement also resolves the states’ claims against Meta for its sharing of nonpublic information about Facebook users with third parties, like Cambridge Analytica, leading up to the 2016 election. In agreeing to this additional settlement, the Commonwealth will receive an additional $11 million.   

The attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming joined the settlement. 

Pubished on: August 26, 2026

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