Meta’s $18B child-safety deal hinges on age verification tech that doesn’t work well

Meta agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 52 attorneys general over allegations that Instagram and Facebook harmed children, without admitting wrongdoing. The deal requires major child-safety changes, but its practical impact depends heavily on age-verification tools that remain unreliable, and the payment is spread over 10 years.

The settlement gives regulators a major political win while avoiding a court ruling that could have threatened Meta’s Section 230 or First Amendment defenses. More broadly, it signals that age assurance is becoming central to platform regulation, even though the technology is still inaccurate, intrusive, or easy to evade.