Meta has settled a landmark child-safety lawsuit, agreeing to a fine of up to $18 billion paid over the next decade—an outcome that removes an existential legal threat but leaves the company's deeper trust problem unresolved.

The settlement requires annual payments equal to less than 1% of Meta's 2025 revenue. Financially, that is a victory for the parent of Facebook and Instagram: the company had said the 29-state lawsuit could have wiped out its entire market capitalization, with potential penalties of up to $1.4 trillion. Meta does not have to admit guilt, and almost a third of the fine is contingent on competitors adopting similar measures. For a company whose ad business depends on scale and user engagement, avoiding a court judgment of that size matters as much for operational certainty as for the balance sheet.

Meta framed the resolution as a win. The company declined to take responsibility for its addictive design and the allegedly devastating consequences for some users, instead describing the settlement as an agreement "building on our longstanding efforts to empower parents and support teens." It also issued an "open letter" calling on "our peers—TikTok and YouTube—to put the same measures in place." The defendant has effectively cast itself as the hero in this drama.

Yet denial of responsibility is not a license to rewrite the narrative. Almost every state had sued the company because there was ample and growing evidence that it was failing to protect young customers. Internal documents show Meta officials knew that Instagram harmed teen girls and chose not to disclose it. Despite that, Meta axed the team responsible for investigating the downside of its products. A full jury trial in Oakland would have meant deeper dives into corporate practices and would have put CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the stand to defend them against whistleblowers, grieving parents, and academic experts.

On the other side of the ledger, Meta must make design and policy changes that have been hailed as a public health victory and could raise the bar for how other companies operate. The deal carries a tacit admission that infinite scroll, autoplay, filters, likes, and other engagement features are dangerous to children—and must be limited. Automatic restrictions make it easier to reduce harm, if they can be enforced, and the onus now falls on Meta to authenticate the age of its users and protect its customers. That makes compliance and implementation the next real test: the settlement can set a standard on paper, but its effect will depend on whether those safeguards are actually built into the products people use every day.

More important, perhaps, the agreement confirms what many increasingly know to be true: social media can be bad for you. Gen Z already understands the downside of social media in ways that Millennials did not. They crave analog experiences and see AI as more of a threat than an opportunity.

Much like Big Tobacco was forced to admit that cigarettes can cause cancer, or Purdue Pharma was forced to stop downplaying the risks of OxyContin, this agreement now puts Meta's core products in a negative light. That could give consumers and advertisers pause when engaging with its platforms, and the new restrictions could also affect how Meta presents safety to regulators, parents, and its own users. The settlement removes a risk that could have toppled the business, but Zuckerberg now has to prove he can reduce harm—both to rebuild trust and to reduce the risk that other lawsuits might prove more punishing.

Also in the briefing: Nvidia forecasts 70% revenue growth for its next fiscal year, and it was a mixed bag across global markets, with Nvidia shares shooting up 7%.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.