Meta will pay up to $18 billion and strictly limit how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram under a sweeping agreement with nearly all U.S. states to resolve claims it designed those social media platforms to addict children.
The settlements announced on Wednesday end a federal trial over allegations Meta‘s products harmed children and the company misled the public about their safety. Four of the states — California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey — were expected to seek close to $200 billion in civil penalties.
While Meta will not undergo a fundamental overhaul, the accords represent a sweeping effort to define how it serves young users.
It could provide a template for resolving thousands of other lawsuits against social media companies. Governments around the world are trying to curb children’s access to harmful online content, including a ban in Australia on social media for children under 16.




When Tim Brunner was at an auction barn earlier this week, he was surprised to see decent cows selling several hundred dollars cheaper than they were just a few weeks ago.
A massive landslide along the Nepal-China border sent a torrent of mud, rocks and water through communities Wednesday, leaving a trail of destroyed homes, roads, bridges and power infrastructure.
Zvi Sukkot, a member of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, was filmed smashing the Palestinian Martyrs' Monument in the village of Madama, south of Nablus, with a sledgehammer.
South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham has won the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate, according to a race call by the Associated Press.
Israel may have committed war crimes in a double-tap attack on a Gaza hospital that killed Palestinian journalists, medics and first responders, an investigation by The Independent has found.





























