This year Meta, the Silicon Valley giant that runs Facebook and Instagram, has suffered several blow(打击；挫折)s in court. In March it was found to have deceived users about the dangers of its services in a case in New Mexico. In California a jury found that it and Google had been negligent in how they designed their platforms.(在加州，陪审团裁定Meta和谷歌在平台设计上存在疏忽。)
今年，运营着Facebook和Instagram的硅谷巨头Meta在法庭上屡遭打击。3月份，在新墨西哥州的一起案件中，Meta被发现就服务危险性欺骗了用户。在加利福尼亚州，一个陪审团裁定Meta和谷歌在平台设计上存在疏忽。
But these trials paled in comparison with the one that began on August 18th, in which 29 American states teamed up to sue the company, alleging that its platforms harm youngsters, and that it knew of the damaging effects.(但与8月18日开始的那场审判相比，这些案件都相形见绌，该审判中29个州联手起诉该公司，指控其平台伤害青少年且公司知情。) The four states leading the effort as plaintiff(原告)s were seeking as much as(多达；高达) $193bn in damages—roughly equal to Meta’s revenue in 2025.
但与8月18日开始的那场审判相比，这些案件都相形见绌。在那场审判中，美国29个州联手起诉该公司，指控其平台伤害青少年，且公司知晓这些有害影响。作为原告牵头此事的四个州寻求高达1930亿美元的赔偿——大致相当于Meta在2025年的收入。
Then, on August 26th, Meta and the attorneys-general filed a settlement(和解协议) agreement. In it Meta agrees to pay $12bn, and potentially as much as $17bn, in damages over the next ten years. (A separate settlement was reached with Texas for $1bn.) The firm has also agreed to various ways in which it will restrict use of Facebook and Instagram in the states it has settled with. Meta will adopt new processes to pinpoint(精确定位；准确识别) the age of all users. For teens under 18, the total time they can spend scrolling will be capped at two hours a day, with a blackout period from midnight to 6am and no notifications from 10pm to 7am nor during school hours.(对于18岁以下青少年，每日刷屏时间上限为两小时，午夜至凌晨6点禁用，晚上10点至早7点及上课时间无通知。) Measures of engagement(互动；参与度) with posts, including “likes”, will be hidden for them. And they will be offered the option of switching to an algorithm-free chronological feed(无算法的按时间顺序订阅源) on Instagram that shows photos only from accounts they choose to follow.
随后，在8月26日，Meta与各州总检察长提交了和解协议。协议中，Meta同意在未来十年内支付120亿美元，并可能高达170亿美元的赔偿金。（与德克萨斯州达成了10亿美元的单独和解。）该公司还同意以多种方式限制其在已和解州内对Facebook和Instagram的使用。Meta将采用新流程来精确识别所有用户的年龄。对于18岁以下的青少年，他们每天刷屏的总时间将被限制在两个小时以内，午夜至凌晨6点为禁用时段，晚上10点至早上7点及上课时间不发送通知。帖子互动指标（包括“点赞”）将对青少年隐藏。他们还将可以选择在Instagram上切换到无算法的按时间顺序的订阅源，只显示他们选择关注的账户的照片。