Meta’s proposed settlement with attorneys general from 29 US states would require the company to build and test a system for identifying under-13 users, while also giving it protection from certain state claims over children’s data used for that purpose. The provision matters because it creates a long-term legal exemption within a child-safety case, raising concerns about whether Meta’s use of young users’ data can be effectively limited and monitored.

The settlement could cost Meta up to $18 billion and requires the age-assurance model to be developed, trained and tested within a year. It bars Meta from using under-13s’ data for advertising, marketing or algorithmic optimisation, and an independent auditor is intended to oversee compliance; however, the agreement does not specify what data will be retained, for how long, or how derived insights will be kept separate from other systems. Legal experts note that federal regulator the FTC, which chiefly enforces COPPA, is not party to the agreement, so its position remains unclear.