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Sunday, 13 September 2026
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Sunday, 13 September 2026
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Ghanaian press · Organization

Meta Platforms

Meta Platforms — social media company that operates Facebook and Instagram, settling $18 billion lawsuit over youth addiction and safety allegations.

2026-05-152026-09-13
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In coverage

Verbatim sentences from the source article.

  1. June 2026

  2. Business & Financial Times

    … AI-powered media buying systems within Google Ads and Meta Platforms are now optimising campaigns based on actual behavioural signals such as purchase intent, conversion probability, and customer retention. …

    The discovery machine: How AI is rewiring marketing

  3. Joy Online

    Italy’s competition authority said on Monday it had dropped an investigation into Meta Platforms over allegations that the company abused its dominant position by installing its artificial intelligence tool on the messaging service WhatsApp. …

    Italy regulator drops investigation into Meta’s WhatsApp AI bot
  4. May 2026

  5. Joy Online

    … The purchases included securities linked to companies such as Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Oracle, Broadcom, Bank of America ⁠, and Goldman Sachs, as well as trades in municipal bonds. …

    Trump ethics filing reveals thousands of trades tied to US corporate securities
Business

Meta to pay up to $18 billion in youth safety settlement

The News

Meta Platforms has agreed to a historic settlement with dozens of U.S. states over allegations that its platforms fueled a youth mental health crisis, agreeing to pay up to $18 billion and overhaul key features on Facebook and Instagram. The company will initially pay approximately $12 billion, with additional payments conditional on whether competing platforms adopt similar safety standards.

26 August 2026 · Joy Online →

Wednesday 26 August

  1. Meta to pay up to $18 billion in youth safety settlement

    Meta Platforms has agreed to a historic settlement with dozens of U.S. states over allegations that its platforms fueled a youth mental health crisis, agreeing to pay up to $18 billion and overhaul key features on Facebook and Instagram. The company will initially pay approximately $12 billion, with additional payments conditional on whether competing platforms adopt similar safety standards.

    26 August 2026 · Joy Online →

  2. Meta settles US states lawsuit over child safety harms

    Meta Platforms has settled claims brought by 29 states that the company designed Instagram and Facebook to addict children, misled consumers about safety, and improperly collected personal data from child users without parental consent. The settlement was reached during a federal court trial in California, averting what would have been a major test of allegations that social media companies harmed young users.

    26 August 2026 · Joy Online →

  3. Meta, US states discuss mid-trial settlement over teen addiction claims

    Meta Platforms and state attorneys general have discussed a potential mid-trial settlement of a lawsuit accusing the company of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to young users, Bloomberg News reported. The case involves 29 states and is one of the highest-profile tests of allegations that social media companies have harmed young users.

    26 August 2026 · Joy Online →

  4. Instagram head testifies on delayed rollout of safety feature

    Adam Mosseri, Instagram's head since 2018, testified in a trial brought by 29 U.S. states over alleged addictive design that few teenagers — in the low-single digits — used the "Take a Break" feature before Instagram made it the default setting in September 2024, nearly three years after its launch. Mosseri acknowledged the feature was available to users but said most teens didn't want it before being made mandatory.

    26 August 2026 · Joy Online →

Friday 21 August

  1. US teen drops social media addiction lawsuit ahead of trial

    A 15-year-old girl from New Jersey dismissed her claims against Meta, Google, and Snap, which alleged the platforms' owners contributed to her social media addiction, depression, and self-harm. Her attorney said the plaintiff chose to dismiss the remainder of her claims to resume her life, though she had sought to hold social media companies accountable.

    21 August 2026 · Joy Online →

Thursday 20 August

  1. Meta executive testifies Zuckerberg prioritised growth over child safety

    A former Meta engineering director testified that CEO Mark Zuckerberg fostered a culture treating child safety as secondary to growth on Facebook and Instagram. The testimony came during a landmark trial in which California, Colorado, Kentucky, New Jersey and 25 other states accuse Meta of designing platforms to harm young users and improperly collecting data from children under 13.

    20 August 2026 · Joy Online →

Tuesday 11 August

  1. Meta launches Muse Glimmer, smaller AI model for personal devices

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a new open-weight AI model called Muse Glimmer designed to run on personal computers with a single graphics card, and announced larger models are coming soon. Zuckerberg argued for lower U.S. barriers to open-source AI to compete with Chinese rivals, championing AI distribution over concentrated corporate control.

    11 August 2026 · Joy Online →

  2. US appeals court allows addiction lawsuits against Meta, TikTok, others

    A U.S. appeals court rejected appeals by Meta and TikTok seeking to overturn a lower court ruling requiring them to face more than 3,000 lawsuits alleging the companies designed their products to be addictive to young users. The court ruled that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides a defense to liability rather than immunity from lawsuits, making the appeal premature.

    11 August 2026 · Joy Online →

Tuesday 28 July

  1. Tennessee sues Meta over Instagram's impact on teen mental health

    Tennessee's attorneys told a jury that Meta disregarded internal research showing Instagram's features like autoplay and infinite scroll caused eating disorders, depression and self-harm among teenagers, prioritizing profit over safety. Meta's defense maintains the company has been transparent about risks and works to find and fix problems.

    28 July 2026 · Joy Online →

Wednesday 22 July

  1. Alphabet delays flagship AI model as spending concerns mount

    Alphabet faces investor scrutiny over a delayed launch of its Gemini 3.5 Pro model and concerns about returns on massive data-centre spending, though the company posted blockbuster cloud sales growth. The company has increased 2026 capital expenditure guidance to between $180 billion and $190 billion and announced plans to raise about $85 billion in equity offerings.

    22 July 2026 · Joy Online →

Tuesday 21 July

  1. Meta faces Tennessee trial over Instagram addiction allegations

    Meta faces trial in Tennessee over claims that Instagram was designed to be addictive and contributed to a youth mental-health crisis. Tennessee's Attorney General alleges the company violated consumer protection law by knowingly designing the product to drive compulsive teen use, failing to disclose internal research on harms, and misleading the public about platform safety.

    21 July 2026 · Joy Online →

  2. French Parliament approves social media ban for under-15s

    A reconciliation committee of France's Parliament approved a bill to ban social media access for those under 15, with French President Macron seeking implementation by early September. The measure follows Australia's ban for under-16s and comes as European Commission President Von der Leyen has supported similar limits across the EU.

    21 July 2026 · Joy Online →

Monday 20 July

  1. Meta, Anthropic in early talks for $10bn computing lease deal

    Meta Platforms is in talks to lease computing power to Anthropic in a potential deal worth up to $10 billion over two years, according to a source familiar with the matter. The discussions are in their early stages and may not result in a deal.

    20 July 2026 · Joy Online →

  2. US judge rejects bid to block Meta layoffs in discrimination case

    A federal judge denied an emergency motion by 26 Meta employees to block their layoffs while they pursue claims that the company's AI tools targeted them for job cuts because of disabilities or medical leave. The judge said the workers could not demonstrate "irreparable harm," though he noted the lawsuit raises "serious questions" about Meta's conduct and may reconsider his decision based on additional evidence about AI's role in the layoffs.

    20 July 2026 · Joy Online →

Tuesday 7 July

  1. Meta faces $1.4 trillion penalty claim in US youth safety trial

    Meta disclosed in a court filing that four US states are seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties over allegations the company designed Facebook and Instagram to addict young users and misled the public about their safety, ahead of an August trial in Oakland, California.

    7 July 2026 · Joy Online →

Monday 6 July

  1. Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs amid AI infrastructure spending surge

    Microsoft is eliminating roughly 4,800 positions (2.1% of its workforce) as the company spends heavily on AI infrastructure and uses the technology to improve business efficiency. The cuts follow a wave of tech layoffs driven by Big Tech's historic AI investments, set to top $700 billion this year, as companies seek returns from the technology.

    6 July 2026 · Joy Online →

Tuesday 30 June

  1. Federal judge denies Meta's motion to dismiss state lawsuit

    A U.S. District Judge rejected Meta Platforms' attempt to dismiss a lawsuit filed by 29 state attorneys general accusing the company of designing Facebook and Instagram to addict children and concealing the harms. The judge denied Meta's motion to dismiss claims based on deception and unfair practices, and granted summary judgment to the states on violations of the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

    30 June 2026 · Joy Online →

Thursday 18 June

  1. US appeals court permits Ohio law requiring parental consent for child social media

    A U.S. appeals court in Cincinnati ruled that Ohio can enforce a law requiring social media platforms including Instagram to obtain parental consent before allowing children under 16 to use their services, overturning a lower-court block and finding the law does not violate First Amendment protections.

    18 June 2026 · Joy Online →

Tuesday 16 June

  1. Florida sues TikTok for violating child safety law

    Florida's attorney general filed a lawsuit claiming TikTok violated the state's law barring social media platforms from allowing children under age 14 to create accounts, alleging the platform allows underage users access and misrepresents exposure to violent or sexual content. TikTok says it is complying with the law and suspending accounts of users under 14 in Florida.

    16 June 2026 · Joy Online →

Friday 12 June

  1. AI shifts marketing from productivity tool to pattern discovery

    An industry analyst argues that artificial intelligence's real disruption in Ghanaian marketing is not automation but the ability to uncover behavioural patterns and hidden opportunities at scale, moving beyond the broad generalisations and assumptions that have long dominated the industry.

    12 June 2026 · Business & Financial Times →

Wednesday 10 June

  1. AI shifts marketing focus from automation to pattern discovery

    An opinion piece argues that artificial intelligence's real disruption to Ghana's marketing industry is not automation but the ability to uncover patterns and behavioural truths at scale, enabling brands to compete by discovering and acting on hidden opportunities faster than before.

    10 June 2026 · Business & Financial Times →

Tuesday 9 June

  1. Italy regulator closes Meta WhatsApp AI investigation

    Italy's competition authority (AGCM) has dropped its investigation into Meta over allegations of abusing its dominant position by installing an AI tool on WhatsApp, citing the European Commission's extension of its own probe to cover Italian territory.

    9 June 2026 · Joy Online →

Friday 15 May

  1. Trump discloses $220 million in US securities trades in early 2026

    U.S. President Donald Trump disclosed at least $220 million in financial transactions involving major U.S. company securities in the first three months of 2026, according to ethics filings released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Purchases included securities linked to Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Oracle, Broadcom, and other firms, with the cumulative value reported in broad ranges totaling between $220 million and around $750 million.

    15 May 2026 · Joy Online →

Meta Platforms — Ghanaian press coverage · Ghana Minute