Major changes are coming to Facebook and Instagram after Meta settled a high-profile trial in the United States.

The social media giant agreed to pay an $17 billion settlement to 29 US states which had brought a lawsuit accusing it of deliberately designing addictive products which led to mental health issues among young people – including anxiety, depression and suicide. It will also pay $1bn to Texas, which was not part of the lawsuit.

Led by California, the states also claimed that Meta regularly collected data on children under the age of 13 without parental permission, a violation of federal and state laws. 

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been due to appear as a witness in the jury trial – which began last week – while Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri was questioned.

The company denies wrongdoing but agreed to pay $17bn, to be divided among the 29 states, over the next 10 years.

Crucially, it also agreed to make significant changes to improve safeguarding on its Instagram and Facebook apps in ‘participating US states’. While the changes will not automatically be coming to the UK, the Government here said it is “following developments closely”.