Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion to settle claims from U.S. states over children’s safety on Instagram and Facebook, but implementing the agreement will depend partly on age-verification technology that still faces accuracy and privacy challenges.

The settlement involves 52 attorneys general and requires Meta to introduce major changes to how minors use its platforms. Although Meta has not admitted wrongdoing, most of the measures will remain in place for 10 years, pending judicial approval.

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Settlement Goes Beyond The Financial Penalty

The $18 billion payment will be spread over a decade, reducing its immediate impact on Meta, which reported more than $200 billion in revenue in 2025. More significant for the company may be the operational changes required under the agreement.

Teen users will face a default two-hour daily limit across Facebook and Instagram, which can only be disabled with parental permission. Access will also be blocked between midnight and 6 a.m., while notifications will be muted during school hours and users will receive prompts after every 15 minutes of continuous use.

Age Verification Is Central To The Deal

Those safeguards depend on Meta identifying which users are minors. Under the agreement, the company will strengthen its technology for detecting users under 13 and identifying teenagers who may have registered with an adult birthday.

Meta already uses AI-based systems and other signals to identify potentially underage users. The company says it is expanding those systems and will invest in stronger age-assurance technology under the settlement.

Accuracy remains a challenge, however. Age-assurance systems can mistakenly classify adults as minors or fail to identify children, while different verification methods create different privacy risks.

Privacy Creates A Second Challenge

Current approaches can include government ID checks, facial age estimation and other forms of identity or behavioural analysis. Each method requires companies to balance accurate age checks against the amount of sensitive information users must provide.

A breach involving identity documents or biometric information could create serious consequences, particularly for minors. Unlike a password, biometric information cannot simply be changed after it is compromised.

Some experts argue that companies can reduce those risks by verifying age without retaining the underlying identity information, for example by generating a token that confirms whether a user falls below a particular age threshold.

Other Platforms Face Similar Pressure

Recent attempts to introduce age verification show how difficult implementation can be. Discord delayed its global rollout earlier this year following user backlash and said it would add alternative verification methods before expanding the system further.

Meta is now calling on TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar protections. The settlement gives that push an additional financial incentive: about 30%, or roughly $5.3 billion, of Meta’s payment is contingent on the two platforms introducing specified measures and making matching payments.

Settlement Could Set A New Platform Standard

For Meta, the agreement represents a significant shift in how child safety is built into its platforms, with several protections becoming default rather than optional.

The bigger test will be whether age assurance can identify minors accurately enough to make those safeguards effective without requiring users to surrender excessive personal information. If it succeeds, the settlement could establish a broader standard for how major social platforms handle children’s access and safety.