21:51 - 27.08.2026

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August 27, 2026, Fineko/abc.az. Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion over a decade to settle lawsuits with nearly all U.S. states accusing the company of designing Facebook and Instagram to addict teenagers. Under the agreement, Meta will impose a default two-hour daily screen-time limit for users under 18 in the United States.

The historic settlement has sparked global reactions from regulators. Officials in Australia, South Korea, and the Philippines noted that the deal proves social media companies possess the technical tools to protect young users when pushed. Simultaneously, the European Commission stated that it expects Meta to implement similar addictive-design curbs globally, including disabling infinite scrolling and autoplay by default under the Digital Services Act.