Emma Roth

is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.

Meta had to shell out $9.89 billion to pay for a chunk of the child safety settlement it reached with US attorneys general. That’s according to the company’s third-quarter earnings report released on Wednesday , which says Meta’s income from operations would have been $22.89 billion without the settlement.

In August, Meta agreed to pay $17.1 billion to settle a massive nationwide lawsuit that claimed the company harmed children by making its social media platforms “addictive” by design. It will also only pay $5.3 billion of this amount if YouTube and TikTok implement stricter settings and safeguards for kids, which Meta also agreed to as part of the settlement.

Meta’s total costs and expenses amounted to $51.61 billion, including the amount it agreed to pay as part of the settlement.…