Facebook and Instagram owner Meta has agreed to pay $18billion (£13.3billion) and implement child safety features to settle a a social media addiction lawsuit in the US.
The lawsuit, brought by 29 US states, centred around addiction and claims Meta products were damaging to children's mental health.
IN the landmark case, a jury heard evidence Meta knew its products harmed children’s mental health but deliberately designed the apps to be addictive.
Meta had denied the allegations in the civil case.
Now, the settlement, which has been approved by a California judge, will see Meta pay $18billion to 48 states along with the District of Columbia and three US territories.
Meta has also agreed to implement a host of changes designed to better protecting children online, which the states had demanded, including default daily time limits and night-time blocks, the BBC reports.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said: "This is a major moment to clean up an industry that has been hurting our kids."
Meta has denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement and said indicated the payments will be made in annual instalments over 10 years.
Approving the settlement, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers wrote that it "reflects a fair, reasonable, comprehensive, and good faith approach not only to provide monetary relief, but importantly, to change conduct in a way that attempts to meaningfully address the negative impacts of the social media platforms at issue".
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