How Australia’s social media ban loomed over Meta’s $24b settlement

August 31, 2026 — 6:38pm

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Meta got off lightly last week in the United States when it settled a lawsuit over allegedly getting a generation of teens addicted to harmful social media for $24 billion. Australia’s teen social media ban shows why the company was happy to pay up.

Facing a multipronged social media addiction lawsuit that the tech behemoth said could leave it to pay nearly its entire market value – $US1.4 trillion ($1.95 trillion) – in penalties, Meta cut a deal.

Meta has promised to adjust its settings for under 18s, including imposing two-hour time limits, overnight curfews, hiding the number of “likes” and modifying extreme beauty filters. The company will have to pay fines in every US state, and will fork out more money if Snap, YouTube and TikTok settle ongoing separate lawsuits.

Despite the scale of Meta’s payout – the biggest by any social media company ever – the company has made those product changes essentially on its own terms. It has also avoided admitting fault and being drawn into a bruising........

© The Sydney Morning Herald