Minnesota will receive up to $307 million as part of a historic $18 billion legal settlement with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, over teen social media addiction claims. Also under the agreement, which settles claims from 47 states, Meta said it would create new child safety features.

The settlement comes after a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general sued Meta in 2023 over alleged harm its social media platforms did to children’s mental health. The settlement ends a trial that started last week in Oakland, Calif.Speaking with reporters Wednesday in St. Paul, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the terms of the settlement will protect children from applications designed to “addict young people” through algorithms that “push users into rabbit holes to maximize their engagement.”

“Infinite scrolling and near-constant alerts were created with the express goal of hooking young users,” Ellison said. “These practices have harmed the physical and mental health of children and teens and have fueled what the former U.S. surgeon general called a ‘youth mental health crisis.’ ”

The settlement stops numerous lawsuits against Meta and creates restrictions like time limits for children using the platform for five years. Ellison said he hoped it would send a signal to companies like Snapchat, TikTok and Google and provide a template for how to change.

A judge must approve the agreement, but in an online post, Meta said it was committed to creating new protections and called on other platforms like TikTok and Google-operated YouTube to join.

“Ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms is an absolute imperative for Meta,” the company said in an online post. “We want to get this right for parents and teens, and that’s why we partnered with state attorneys general to set a new industry standard.”

Under the settlement, more money will become available to the states if YouTube and TikTok agree to similar terms in future settlements, according to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. It would also result in expanded restrictions on use. Neither company had publicly weighed in on the settlement as of Wednesday.

The settlement requires Meta to pay a minimum of $12.2 billion, meaning Minnesota will receive at least $214 million. If other platforms enter settlement agreements, the number could grow as high as $18 billion. Meta’s revenue was more than $200 billion in 2025.

Meta would distribute payments to states over a decade. It would fund state programs like mental health crisis hotlines, public awareness campaigns, after-school and summer programs and youth outdoor activities.

Minnesota lawmakers would decide how that money would be spent.

Time limits

The settlement directs Meta to place restrictions on children between the ages of 13 and 17, including a two-hour daily use limit and built-in pauses every 15 minutes. It also requires notifications to be blocked during school days, and access restrictions between midnight and 6 a.m.

Beyond time limits, the settlement calls for new age verification measures, stronger parental controls and content controls on topics like eating disorders, suicide and self-harm. There also are limits on beauty filters and visible “like” counts — features that encourage self-comparison.

If TikTok and YouTube join settlements, the daily time restrictions will drop from two hours to one hour for 10 years, according to the Minnesota Attorney General. Nighttime blocks would expand to 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

The settlement calls for an “independent auditor” to assess whether the new features are effective.

Advocates supported the changes, though many said the protections need to be expanded to all platforms permanently, the Associated Press reported.

“We cannot truly protect all children and teens until these protections are required on every platform and are permanent — that’s something only Congress can do,” Tech Oversight Project executive director Sacha Haworth told the outlet.

The investigation

State attorneys general of both parties from states including California, Florida, Kentucky and Massachusetts launched an investigation after reports emerged that Meta was aware that Instagram negatively affected teen mental health.

The investigation eventually led to a lawsuit in California federal court, where Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was expected to take the stand as a witness before a jury, according to the Associated Press.

Ongoing lawsuit

Minnesota and an industry group representing social media companies continue to fight in court over a new state law mandating pop-up mental health warnings. It was supposed to go into effect on July 1, but the state held off on enforcement until the legal challenge is resolved in court.

NetChoice, which represents companies including Facebook and Instagram parent Meta, TikTok, Google, and Snapchat, sued Minnesota in April before the law went into effect, arguing that it could violate First Amendment speech protections.

The proposed settlement wouldn’t affect that lawsuit, according to Attorney General Consumer Protection Division manager Jason Pleggenkuhle.

This story contains information from the Associated Press.