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Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, is promising hundreds of millions of dollars to North Carolina in settling a landmark federal case over whether its social media platforms were addictive and caused harm to kids and teens.
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Meta and the 51 attorneys general from both parties who sued the company have reached the largest big-tech settlement in American history, Attorney General Jeff Jackson said Wednesday, announcing that North Carolina’s share of the settlement could reach up to $645 million, with a guaranteed minimum of $450 million coming to the state. Meta could pay up to $17.1 billion to the states.
“However, the main purpose of this settlement is not money; it is to protect kids and empower parents,” Jackson said.
The case dates to 2023, when then-Attorney General Josh Stein joined a bipartisan coalition of other state attorneys general in suing the company, accusing it of designing addictive and harmful features aimed at young users. Opening arguments in the case began last week.
Meta has repeatedly tried to have the claims thrown out, arguing in part that social media addiction does not exist and that there is no evidence supporting the states’ claims. But a court rejected the company’s bid to dismiss the case in 2024.
Stein said when he filed the lawsuit back in 2023, he spoke with parents about the harms of the application, including a mother whose daughter had developed an eating disorder. She took her daughter’s phone and found video after video of content that “glorified eating disorders,” Stein said at a news conference Wednesday morning announcing the settlement.
Stein said the money from the settlement would be used for improving young people’s mental health.
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Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green, who joined fellow Democrats Stein and Jackson at the news conference, said student “progress will not happen if our students are struggling with mental health issues.”
“Student mental health and learning are interconnected. A student who is anxious, who is depressed, who is exhausted, who feels hopeless or worse, that student cannot fully learn,” Green said.
Green said that schools don’t have enough mental health support programs or personnel like school counselors, social workers, psychologists or nurses.
Jackson said they were settling instead of litigating it because of the speed of the outcome and because of new child safety upgrades to the platforms.
New features apply to those between 13 and 17, with those below 13 not allowed on the social media platforms.
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The three major pieces, Jackson said, are:
This story was originally published August 26, 2026 at 10:23 AM.