UN experts on Wednesday given cause for concern on Meta’s proposed multi-billion dollar settlement with the U.S. Attorney General over alleged harm to children and young people, and warned that privately negotiated agreements should not replace transparent regulation developed with the participation of young people and affected communities. The experts described the integration of social media platform design into accountability mechanisms as a significant development.
The proposed settlement, announced Aug. 26, would resolve a lawsuit alleging that Meta developed features on Facebook and Instagram that encourage excessive use by children and teens while misleading users and families about the risks involved. California Attorney General Rob Bonta described the agreement as providing payments of up to 17 billion dollars to participating states over a period of 10 years, along with major changes to how the Meta Platforms operate for users under 18 years of age. The agreement remains subject to court approval.
Attorneys general began investigating Meta in 2021, and a nationwide coalition sued the company 2023. The lawsuit alleged that Meta illegally collected data from children under 13, employed features that encouraged excessive use of the platform, and misrepresented the security of Facebook and Instagram.
The states alleged violations of the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), alongside state laws, including those of California False Advertising Law And Unfair competition law. The case survived major pretrial challenges, including Meta’s unsuccessful motion for summary judgment in June 2026, before going to trial in August and later reaching a settlement.
UN experts Polo Maldonado, Gina Romero and Ana Brian Nougrères warned that child protection measures could lead to other rights problems if implemented without adequate safeguards. They highlighted pension schemes, noting that they may require additional collection or processing of personal data and may compromise privacy and anonymity. They added that broad restrictions on platform access could also limit young people’s rights to expression, association, peaceful assembly and participation.
Your concerns go beyond age verification. The experts warned that online safety policies should not shift responsibility primarily to children and parents, while platform design, profiling and recommendation systems should remain largely untouched. They called for better “explainability,” including clearer information about how algorithms determine what young users see and how they influence their engagement.
The experts’ concerns also reflect a broader shift toward rights-based digital governance, in which online security measures are judged not only on whether they reduce harm, but also on how they impact privacy, expression, participation and access to information.
This approach is consistent with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment #25which calls for children to be meaningfully involved in the development of digital policies that affect them and with Sustainable development goal 16.7that promotes inclusive and participatory decision-making. In this context, the debate over Meta’s agreement extends beyond platform security to questions of algorithmic transparency, human rights due diligence, and whether private agreements should shape industry-wide standards without broader public oversight.
Once the settlement is approved by the court, attention will turn to the implementation and independent monitoring of the safeguards. The UN experts called on States to develop more comprehensive evidence-based standards through open consultations, independently assess whether measures actually reduce harm, and ensure meaningful participation of young people and affected communities in shaping future online safety rules.
