Attorney General Brenna Bird Announces Iowa is First State in Meta Settlement to Create Consumer Restitution Fund

DES MOINES—Attorney General Brenna Bird announced today how her office will distribute the recent $126 million settlement from Meta. Per terms of the settlement, half (approximately $68 million) must be used to address harms at issue in the lawsuit. This includes $25 million which will be returned to Iowans hurt by Meta’s practices aimed at children. The settlement comes after Attorney General Bird sued Meta in April 2026.

Iowa is the first state that was part of the Meta settlement to announce a restitution fund for Facebook and Instagram users.

“The Meta settlement was a victory for Iowa’s families,” said Attorney General Brenna Bird. “Our kids will now be safer online. I promise to prosecute online predators, and fight to keep our kids safe. I’m happy to announce we are the first state to create a fund to share the settlement with Iowans who have been affected by Meta’s bad behavior.”

The Meta settlement will be distributed to affected Iowans and will be used to protect kids online:

$25,000,000 will be paid to eligible Iowans who were hurt by the misrepresentations associated with the Facebook and Instagram apps. The office will announce eligibility and how Iowans can make a claim at a later date.

$11,000,000 will be directed to the “Iowa Kids and Consumers Defense Fund” to be used in consumer protection enforcement and other civil enforcement areas of the office to improve child and teen safety, including on social media.

$10,000,000 will go to the “Protect Iowa Students Grant Fund” for grants to Iowa schools and other organizations to address harms related to social media, including but not limited to, covering the costs of school resource officers and training.

$10,000,000 will be directed to the “Iowa Digital Rescue and Prosecution Fund” to address victim needs related to online and social media safety and to aid criminal enforcement of state law prohibiting the sexual exploitation of minors online, including on social media, through synthetic or altered media (e.g., deepfakes and AI-generated images). This fund will help to create a Special Victims Unit within the Attorney General’s office.

The remainder of the settlement will cover legal fees and approximately $49 million will be sent to the general fund of the state.

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For More Information:

Contact: Jen Green | jen.green@ag.iowa.gov

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