Meta's $18B State Settlement Quietly Lets It Keep Some Children's Data

Meta has reached an $18 billion settlement with 29 U.S. states over privacy violations. Buried within the agreement is a provision allowing Meta to retain certain data collected from children under the age of 13. The company is permitted to use this data specifically for training and testing its age-detection systems. Critics and privacy advocates have flagged this clause as a significant tradeoff embedded in the deal. The arrangement raises questions about how far child data protections actually extend under the settlement's terms.