A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million to address harms to young people from Facebook and Instagram in the second phase of a landmark trial. The ruling brings Meta's total penalties in the case to over $1 billion and requires sweeping protections for teen users.
A New Mexico judge ordered Meta to pay $567 million in the second phase of a landmark child safety lawsuit, adding to a $375 million penalty from March. The ruling requires Meta to address harms to young people on Instagram and Facebook and make platform changes.
Meta unveiled multiple AI products in July 2026, including the Muse Spark 1.1 coding model for developers, a new AI image generator integrated into Instagram and chatbot services, and its first paid AI model tier. The releases triggered privacy backlash as Instagram began automatically allowing users' public posts to be used for AI training unless they opt out.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on June 15, 2026, that the UK will ban social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and X from offering services to children under 16. Experts and affected teenagers have raised concerns about enforcement challenges and the policy's effectiveness.
Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta now offers USDC stablecoin payouts to content creators in select countries (initially Colombia and Philippines) through integration with Stripe's payment infrastructure on Solana and Polygon blockchains.
Hundreds of AI-generated avatars are flooding TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube with pro-Trump messaging, with some accounts gaining over 35,000 followers and millions of views, and Trump himself sharing the content.
Meta Superintelligence Labs released Muse Spark, its first frontier AI model and first without open weights, marking a significant shift from Meta's open-source strategy. The model now powers Meta AI app and Meta.ai website.
A Los Angeles jury found Alphabet's Google and Meta liable for $3 million in damages in a landmark social media addiction lawsuit. The verdict, following a five-week trial, could influence thousands of similar cases pending against social media platforms.
