$751 Million for Tennessee Kids – Inside the Record Meta Settlement
Sep 3, 2026 by FACT
Meta is paying $17.1 billion to settle claims that it engineered Instagram to be addictive to children and purposefully hid the dangers from parents. This is the largest state consumer protection settlement in American history outside of the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s.
On August 26, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced the agreement, which resolves claims by 47 states, Washington, D.C., and three US territories that Meta designed Instagram with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harm, and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms.
The settlement was reached as Tennessee's own trial against Meta was nearing an end, and according to AG Skrmetti's office, it was Tennessee's trial, alongside the federal multidistrict case, that “spurred the negotiation that led to the settlement.”
For a full background on Tennessee’s case against Meta, read our previous commentary here.
Tennessee's share of the settlement is $751,922,691.13. Every dollar of the net recovery will go directly into Tennessee's new Children's Digital Protection Fund, dedicated to protecting and restoring the mental health and safety of Tennessee children.
“We took Meta to trial because Instagram was hurting kids and misleading parents. Now we're ending the trial with a settlement that imposes unprecedented protections for kids and delivers record-setting money for Tennessee's Children's Digital Protection Fund,” Skrmetti said.
Under the settlement, Meta will be required to:
The two-hour daily cap will remain in place for five years. If Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube adopt comparable safeguards, the limit on each platform drops to 60 minutes for 10 years – a built-in incentive for the rest of the industry to fall in line.
“Tennessee was proud to be a leader in this bipartisan effort to protect our kids,” Skrmetti stated. “Our team led the charge on critical parts of the multistate investigation, fought hard in the courtroom, and spearheaded the negotiations for this historic agreement. This is a generational win for our state and for our kids.”
We are incredibly encouraged by the progress made through this unprecedented settlement, but we recognize the gaps it left and the work that remains in the years to come. This settlement does NOT:
Skrmetti also commended Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal for their work on the Kids Online Safety Act, which will add another important layer of protection for kids in the online space: “This settlement is the best possible solution we could get through litigation... But in the long run, we need federal legislation that clearly imposes a duty of care on every tech company that interacts with kids.”
For a full background on KOSA, read our previous commentary here.
It’s time for Congress to take up the mantle and enact nationwide protections for children and hold Big Tech accountable – once and for all.
FACT remains committed to protecting Tennessee's children and standing with parents against institutions that put profit ahead of their well-being. We'll keep fighting until every company that profits from our children's attention is held to the same standard. If this news encourages you, please consider supporting our work.
On August 26, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced the agreement, which resolves claims by 47 states, Washington, D.C., and three US territories that Meta designed Instagram with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harm, and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platforms.
The settlement was reached as Tennessee's own trial against Meta was nearing an end, and according to AG Skrmetti's office, it was Tennessee's trial, alongside the federal multidistrict case, that “spurred the negotiation that led to the settlement.”
For a full background on Tennessee’s case against Meta, read our previous commentary here.
Tennessee's share of the settlement is $751,922,691.13. Every dollar of the net recovery will go directly into Tennessee's new Children's Digital Protection Fund, dedicated to protecting and restoring the mental health and safety of Tennessee children.
“We took Meta to trial because Instagram was hurting kids and misleading parents. Now we're ending the trial with a settlement that imposes unprecedented protections for kids and delivers record-setting money for Tennessee's Children's Digital Protection Fund,” Skrmetti said.
Under the settlement, Meta will be required to:
- Cap young users at a combined two hours per day across Instagram and Facebook, with mandatory “productive pauses” after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes to interrupt endless scrolling.
- Block young users' access entirely from 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.
- Eliminate push notifications on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. during the school year.
- Implement robust age-assurance measures to verify users' actual ages.
- Strengthen parental controls and age-appropriate content safeguards against bullying, eating disorder content, and content related to suicide and self-harm.
- Limit social comparison features for young users, including beauty filters and visible “like” counts.
The two-hour daily cap will remain in place for five years. If Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube adopt comparable safeguards, the limit on each platform drops to 60 minutes for 10 years – a built-in incentive for the rest of the industry to fall in line.
“Tennessee was proud to be a leader in this bipartisan effort to protect our kids,” Skrmetti stated. “Our team led the charge on critical parts of the multistate investigation, fought hard in the courtroom, and spearheaded the negotiations for this historic agreement. This is a generational win for our state and for our kids.”
We are incredibly encouraged by the progress made through this unprecedented settlement, but we recognize the gaps it left and the work that remains in the years to come. This settlement does NOT:
- Secure an admission of wrongdoing. Meta settled mid-trial rather than face a ruling, and the agreement expressly denies any wrongdoing on its part.
- Reach beyond Instagram and Facebook. Messaging apps, virtual reality, gaming, and AI chatbots are all untouched.
- Bind anyone but Meta. Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and every AI platform courting kids remain unaffected.
- Last forever. Every obligation Meta agreed to expires in 10 years.
- Resolve private lawsuits. Thousands of individual and school district cases are still pending nationwide.
“The other companies are nervous right now. I expect we’re going to see the next domino fall very soon. There’s litigation against each of the other big companies. There’s going to be more litigation. I know we didn’t sue everybody we wanted to, because we were tied up with Meta. Well, that case is gone now. So, we’re going to be filing some additional litigation.
The fewer companies that stay standing with these addictive and [exploitative] processes, the harder it’s going to be for them to remain. And, of course, once we take care of social media, we’re going to be keeping a very vigilant eye on all the new AI products that are potentially going to be facing kids.”
The fewer companies that stay standing with these addictive and [exploitative] processes, the harder it’s going to be for them to remain. And, of course, once we take care of social media, we’re going to be keeping a very vigilant eye on all the new AI products that are potentially going to be facing kids.”
Skrmetti also commended Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal for their work on the Kids Online Safety Act, which will add another important layer of protection for kids in the online space: “This settlement is the best possible solution we could get through litigation... But in the long run, we need federal legislation that clearly imposes a duty of care on every tech company that interacts with kids.”
For a full background on KOSA, read our previous commentary here.
It’s time for Congress to take up the mantle and enact nationwide protections for children and hold Big Tech accountable – once and for all.
