Meta settles landmark US lawsuit for nearly $18bn and agrees to change Facebook and Instagram

Tech giant Meta will pay up to roughly US$18 billion, plus make major design changes to Facebook and Instagram, as part of a settlement it has agreed to in its most recent lawsuit. Filed in 2023 by a coalition of 29 US state attorneys-general, the case alleged that Instagram and Facebook were engineered to keep teenagers hooked, that Meta misled the public about the harm, and that it collected data from children aged under 13 without parental consent. The trial began just over a week ago. But…