Meta’s agreement to pay as much as $18 billion to settle child safety lawsuits in the United States may look like a major victory for parents and regulators. But beneath the headline figure is a more complicated issue that deserves attention: what happens to children’s personal data as Meta works to identify underage users?
The settlement, reached on August 26, 2026, resolves claims brought by almost every US state that Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to encourage excessive use among children and teenagers, failed to adequately protect young users and unlawfully collected information from children under 13. Meta denied wrongdoing but agreed to introduce significant changes to its platforms. Reuters reported that the agreement could pay out up to $18 billion over the next decade.
For a company whose business depends heavily on data, advertising and personalised technology, the age verification part of the agreement is particularly significant.
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Meta will use children’s data to improve age verification
One of the less obvious provisions of the settlement allows Meta to retain and use certain information associated with children for the limited purpose of developing, training and testing technology designed to identify users who are under 13.
That provision is important because Meta must strengthen its systems for detecting people who misrepresent their age. The company already uses artificial intelligence and other signals to estimate whether users are minors, but the settlement requires stronger performance, outside testing and independent auditing.
According to TechCrunch, attorneys general from the states involved have agreed not to bring certain claims under the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, commonly known as COPPA, over Meta’s retention and use of children’s data for this purpose.
The arrangement comes with restrictions. Meta cannot use data from children under 13 for advertising, marketing or algorithmic optimisation. The settlement also requires the company to keep the information within the boundaries established for age assurance.
That sounds reasonable on paper. The difficulty is making sure those boundaries remain clear inside one of the world’s largest technology companies.
As TechCrunch noted, questions remain about precisely what information Meta will retain for training, how much behavioural data could be involved and how long that information could remain in its systems. There are also questions about whether insights derived from children’s data could eventually influence other systems.
This is where the settlement becomes bigger than Meta.
Parents understandably want platforms to know when a child is using an account. At the same time, nobody wants age verification to become another excuse for technology companies to gather more information about children.
New Instagram and Facebook restrictions will affect teenagers
The settlement also introduces significant changes to the way users under 18 interact with Facebook and Instagram in the United States.
Teenagers will receive a default two-hour daily usage limit, while access to the platforms will generally be blocked between midnight and 6am unless a parent gives permission. Notifications will also be largely muted during school hours.
Meta has agreed to hide like and reaction counts for young users and strengthen systems designed to prevent children from accessing age-inappropriate material. Parents will receive greater control over some aspects of their children’s accounts.
AP reported that many of these protections will be switched on by default, although some features, including non-algorithmic feeds and disabling autoplay, remain optional.
The changes are substantial, but they have already attracted criticism from child safety advocates and former Meta employees.
Former Meta safety engineer Arturo Béjar, who testified during the trial, argued that reducing the amount of time teenagers spend on Instagram does not necessarily address the content they are shown. Reuters reported his concern that the agreement could reduce usage without fully addressing harmful experiences on the platforms.
That distinction matters. A child can spend less time online and still encounter harmful content during those two hours.
Back story: why Meta’s child safety case matters beyond the US
The legal battle was built around allegations that Meta’s platforms were deliberately designed to keep young users engaged, while the company failed to adequately address risks associated with children’s use of its services.
The case also included claims that Meta collected personal information from children under 13 without appropriate parental consent. Reuters reported that the wider litigation involved allegations over the use of children’s data, including claims concerning its use in training generative AI.
The settlement ends one major state-led case, but it does not end the wider debate. Thousands of other lawsuits involving social media and alleged harm to young people remain in courts, while some states, including New Mexico and Florida, have pursued separate positions.
The implications are also moving beyond America. The United Nations has called for stronger child-safe design across the social media industry, warning that simply restricting children’s ages will not fix harmful platform designs and algorithms. Dawn reported that the UN is calling for stronger data protection, independent oversight and safer design across the industry.
For Nigeria and other African countries, where children and teenagers are rapidly becoming more connected through smartphones and social platforms, the debate is worth watching closely. Age verification, parental controls and safer digital environments are necessary, but so is protecting the personal information used to achieve them.
The biggest lesson from Meta’s $18 billion settlement may therefore not be the size of the cheque. It may be the difficult balance between knowing enough about a child to protect them and knowing so much that their privacy becomes another casualty of online safety.
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