Meta has settled litigation brought by attorneys general across 52 US states, territories and Washington DC over allegations that Facebook and Instagram harmed young users' mental health. The company will pay up to roughly $16.68bn in annual installments over a decade, funding youth online safety programs, while denying any wrongdoing. As part of the deal, Meta must add teen safety features like night-time blocks, school-hours access limits, stronger parental controls and age verification.
bbc.co.uk
· 2026-08-26
Arizona publicist Tracy Green earned over $500 in two weeks by sharing shopping links from ShopMy, an affiliate marketing platform, with her roughly 1,900 Instagram followers after a trip where friends swapped product recommendations. Another user, New York publicist Stephanie Dresher, began doing the same after realizing friends already asked her for outfit advice, turning casual recommendations into paid links earning 10% to 30% commissions.
entrepreneur.com
· 2026-08-26
Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion to resolve a lawsuit brought by 29 U.S. states accusing it of deliberately designing Instagram and Facebook to be addictive to children while aware of the potential harms. The states also alleged Meta improperly collected data from minors without parental consent, violating federal children's privacy law. Meta is not admitting wrongdoing but avoids a jury trial by settling.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-26
Meta has agreed to a proposed settlement worth up to roughly $18 billion with 52 state attorneys general over claims that Facebook and Instagram were designed to hook young users and mislead the public about the risks. The deal, still awaiting court approval, stems from a 2023 lawsuit accusing Meta of fostering compulsive teen use and unlawfully collecting data from children under 13 in violation of COPPA and California consumer protection laws.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-08-26
Instagram has introduced First Draft, a new iPhone-only feature that automatically assembles a Reel from selected video clips with a single tap, trimming pauses and cutting footage into a rough edit. Meta emphasizes the tool only offers a starting point, with every change reversible and reorderable before final publishing or further editing.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-08-26
Apple shared a short Instagram reel showing how its recent Mac mini with M6 commercial was made, featuring animators Justin Rasch and Scott DaRos and art director Josh Mahan. The clip highlights sketches, props, sculptures and stop-motion techniques used to build the ad's practical effects.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-08-25
Adam Mosseri testified in Meta's multistate trial over child safety that he was unaware a company lawyer instructed Instagram employees to strip certain teen-safety statistics from a 2023 presentation before it reached him. The removed data showed teens viewed suicide, self-harm and eating-disorder content, as well as other 'non-recommendable' material, at significantly higher rates than adults. Mosseri said he never asked to be shielded from such information and understood lawyers' role as reviewing documents for legal accuracy.
engadget.com
· 2026-08-25
Testifying in Oakland in the multistate lawsuit against Meta, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said he does not instruct employees to conceal information from him that could create legal exposure. He was questioned about whether Meta lawyers restricted internal sharing of research on child safety and teen mental health, and acknowledged the company had narrowed access to some internal studies.
cnbc.com
· 2026-08-25
Meta introduced First Draft, an Instagram tool that automatically detects and removes silences and pauses from video clips before laying them into an editable timeline. Users select clips from their Reels Gallery, tap First Draft, then refine the auto-trimmed sequence or post it directly to their feed or Story. The feature rolls out on iOS first, with no confirmed timeline for Android.
engadget.com
· 2026-08-25
In testimony from an ongoing lawsuit filed by 29 states against Meta, a former company data scientist revealed that only about 0.165% to 0.2% of teens actually used Instagram's Take a Break feature when it was opt-in, despite Meta previously claiming 90% adoption. The tool, meant to nudge users to pause after extended app use, is now enabled by default for teen accounts following the criticism.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-08-25
Instagram unveiled 'First Draft,' a feature that automatically trims clips and cuts pauses to generate an initial Reels edit in under 10 seconds. The tool is rolling out first on iPhone, accessible via the camera during recording or through the Reels gallery after selecting clips.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-25
Instagram has introduced First Draft, a new editing feature on iPhone that automatically trims multiple video clips to cut pauses and highlight key moments before stitching them into a shareable Reel. The company says the tool works with multi-clip montages, talking-head videos, and day-in-the-life content, and serves as an editable starting point rather than a finished product. Instagram confirmed the feature does not rely on AI, distinguishing it from similar tools like Adobe's Quick Cut.
theverge.com
· 2026-08-25
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