Buried in Meta’s $18B settlement is a legal pass on kids’ data

Meta agreed to a settlement with 29 states valued at $18 billion that permits the company to retain certain data from children under 13 for training and testing age-detection models. The settlement was announced in 2025 following investigations by state attorneys general into Meta's practices. The agreement requires Meta to implement additional safeguards for minors' accounts but does not restrict the company's use of child data for developing age-verification technology.

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