Tech giant Meta has reached a landmark settlement valued at up to $16.68 billion over sweeping allegations that Instagram and Facebook were engineered to addict children and harvest their personal data.

Although the social media titan firmly denies any legal wrongdoing, the massive agreement addresses intense scrutiny from regulators claiming proprietary algorithms compromised youth mental health for commercial engagement.

The historic resolution is poised to enforce unprecedented platform overhauls, fundamentally transforming digital safety standards and data privacy protections for millions of teenagers nationwide.