Meta has reached a proposed settlement with dozens of states over allegations that it built Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to minors and improperly collected children's data. The deal, still pending court approval and involving no admission of wrongdoing, requires Meta to impose default two-hour daily time limits for under-18 users, overnight app blackouts, and periodic screen-time reminders, while paying up to $18 billion over a decade to fund youth online safety programs.
engadget.com
· 2026-08-26
Meta reached a settlement with a coalition of state attorneys general, led by California, resolving claims that it downplayed mental health risks to children on Facebook and Instagram. Under the proposed consent judgment, Meta will pay $16.7 billion total, with California potentially receiving up to $2.1 billion, and must implement daily usage limits, nighttime blocks for teens, stronger age verification, and new parental control tools. Texas did not join the settlement, and both sides waived rights to appeal once the court approves it.
cnbc.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 reached a settlement with 29 US states that had sued the company over allegedly designing Instagram and Facebook to be addictive and harmful to minors. Reuters reports the deal could cost Meta as much as $16.68 billion and would involve 52 state attorneys general, requiring Meta to adopt default usage limits during school and nighttime hours plus stricter age verification. The agreement still needs court approval but would let Meta avoid a trial that could have forced broader industry changes.
cnet.com
· 2026-08-26
PeopleFinders.com, the online data broker, has launched a new platform called Stud or Dud that lets users run background checks on potential romantic partners using just a name or phone number. The tool compiles public records—including court documents, bankruptcy filings, tax liens, and social media activity—into a single report covering finances, assets, employment, and criminal history, complete with an AI-generated summary and flagged 'red' or 'green' indicators.
wired.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
A tech-industry writer describes how growing awareness of social media's harms—cyberbullying, body dysmorphia, and related mental health issues seen firsthand through his wife's pediatric nursing work—led his family to restrict their children to flip phones and keep them off platforms like TikTok. He notes this reflects a broader trend among tech workers and public figures, coinciding with rising cultural pushback including Jonathan Haidt's book, national social media bans in countries like Australia, and a US Supreme Court ruling upholding age-verification laws.
technologyreview.com
· 2026-08-26
Code found in Google Photos version 7.90 reveals plans to standardize how long deleted photos and videos remain recoverable, setting a single 30-day trash window for all media. Currently, backed-up items stay in trash for 60 days while non-backed-up files are removed after 30 days. The feature is not yet live for most users, but testers were able to activate it early.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-08-26
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
New Zealand's government has proposed legislation that would prohibit children under 16 from using social media platforms and AI companion apps. The move mirrors similar restrictions enacted or debated elsewhere, aiming to shield minors from harms tied to online engagement and AI-driven interactions.
tech.slashdot.org
· 2026-08-25
MIT Media Lab researchers Pattie Maes, Anku Rani and Valdemar Danry ran a four-week study where participants used a chatbot to judge whether headline-image pairs were real or fake news. Accuracy jumped 21% initially with AI help, but by the study's end, unaided performance had dropped 15% below baseline, even though many participants believed they'd improved.
technologyreview.com
· 2026-08-25
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