Meta has agreed to pay up to $16.68 billion to settle lawsuits brought by 29 US states over child safety on Facebook and Instagram, according to Reuters.

Under the settlement, Meta will introduce new protections for teenage users, including daily usage limits, nighttime restrictions and stronger measures to keep children away from age-restricted content.

The company has denied wrongdoing.

The settlement also resolves privacy lawsuits filed by California, Illinois, New Mexico and Washington, D.C. linked to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The four jurisdictions will receive $459.3 million.

The wider case accused Meta of violating child privacy laws by collecting personal information from users it knew were children without required parental consent and allegedly using the data to train machine-learning and generative AI systems.

Meta and other major social media companies continue to face thousands of lawsuits alleging that their platforms were designed in ways that encouraged addictive use among children and contributed to youth mental health problems.

Meta had previously warned that four states involved in the case were seeking penalties of up to $1.4 trillion, although the states estimated the amount at closer to $200 billion.

The settlement comes as Meta faces growing legal pressure over child safety and privacy. Earlier this year, the company was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in separate proceedings in New Mexico.