Consumer News: Speed cameras are spreading on U.S. roads — and generating millions in fines

The agreement requires major changes to Facebook and Instagram

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Meta has agreed to pay up to $16.68 billion to settle claims that Facebook and Instagram harmed children and teenagers.

• The company will impose time limits, overnight restrictions, and stronger parental controls for users under 18.

• Meta denied wrongdoing, and the proposed settlement still requires court approval.

Meta Platforms has agreed to pay as much as $16.68 billion and make sweeping changes to Facebook and Instagram to settle claims that it designed the platforms to addict children and concealed the risks from parents and the public.

The proposed settlement resolves claims brought by states across the country and ends a closely watched federal trial that began Aug. 18 in Oakland, Calif. Meta did not admit wrongdoing, and the agreement remains subject to court approval.

The states alleged that Meta used features designed to keep young users scrolling, improperly collected childrens personal information, and misled consumers about the potential mental and physical health effects of its platforms.

The lawsuits also accused Meta of collecting information from children under 13 without parental notification or consent, in violation of the federal Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act. Some of that information was allegedly used to train machine-learning and generative artificial intelligence models, according to Reuters.

What will change for young users?

Under the proposed agreement, users under 18 will face a default two-hour combined daily limit across Facebook and Instagram. Teenagers will not be able to remove the limit without a parents permission.

The platforms will also be blocked for young users between midnight and 6 a.m., while notifications will be muted during school hours. Direct messaging will generally remain available so teenagers can communicate with friends and family.

Other changes include:

• Hiding the number of likes and reactions on posts by default

• Blocking cosmetic-surgery and extreme-makeup filters

• Giving teenagers the option of a non-personalized feed

• Allowing parents to turn off video autoplay

• Strengthening efforts to detect children under 13 and remove their accounts

• Expanding parental controls and notifications

• Making it harder for suspicious adults to contact or find teenagers

An independent auditor will monitor Metas compliance, while the company will be prohibited from making false or misleading statements about the safety of its services. Most provisions will remain in effect for 10 years, according to the California attorney generals office.

Who gets the money?

The precise value of the settlement varies among official and media accounts because part of the payment is conditional. Reuters calculated Metas maximum payment at $16.68 billion, while state officials have described the package as worth up to approximately $17 billion. Meta described a broader potential agreement valued at about $18 billion.

Meta said roughly $12.7 billion would be distributed over 10 years. An additional $5.3 billion would be released only if TikTok and YouTube adopt similar safety measures and make matching payments.

Metas payments will go to participating states. At least half of the money is designated for restitution and remediation, but each state generally has discretion over how its share is spent. Permitted uses include youth mental health services, research, school programs, public education, and in some states, direct restitution or other consumer relief.

Meta calls for an industrywide response

Meta said the restrictions would be more effective if competing platforms adopted the same rules, arguing that teenagers may simply shift their attention from one app to another.

We need an industry-wide solution, Meta Chief Legal Officer C.J. Mahoney said in the companys settlement announcement.

The agreement does not end every legal threat facing Meta or other social media companies. Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat continue to face lawsuits filed by parents, school districts, and individuals who allege that addictive platform designs contributed to depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and other harms among young users.

The settlement marks one of the largest financial penalties imposed on a technology company and would establish the most extensive nationwide limits yet on how Facebook and Instagram may serve children and teenagers.

The tablets could cause hyperthyroidism, or an overactive thyroid

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Vitruvias Therapeutics is recalling one lot of Thyroid Tablets, USP 30 mg because testing found the medication may be stronger than intended.

• Excess thyroid hormone can cause chest pain, rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, nervousness and other symptoms.

• Patients should not stop taking the medication without first contacting a healthcare provider for guidance or a replacement prescription.

Vitruvias Therapeutics has issued a nationwide recall of one lot of prescription thyroid medication after testing confirmed that the tablets may be superpotent, meaning they could contain more active thyroid hormone than intended.

The recall covers Thyroid Tablets, USP 30 mg from lot number 504950. The products identifying information is:

• NDC: 69680-166-00

• Lot number: 504950

• Expiration date: Sept. 30, 2026

The affected medication was distributed nationwide to the companys direct accounts between Jan. 31 and Sept. 30, 2025, according to the recall notice posted by the Food and Drug Administration.

Thyroid Tablets, USP is a natural preparation made from porcine thyroid glands. It contains the thyroid hormones levothyroxine and liothyronine and is prescribed to treat hypothyroidism, commonly known as an underactive thyroid.

Why the medication may be dangerous

Taking thyroid medication that is stronger than labeled can expose patients to excessive levels of thyroid hormones and cause hyperthyroidism, or an overactive thyroid.

Possible symptoms include weight loss, heat intolerance, fatigue, nervousness, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, chest pain, rapid heartbeat and abnormal heart rhythms.

The risks may be especially serious for older adults, pregnant women and infants, particularly when exposure continues over an extended period.

In older patients, excessive thyroid hormone levels have been linked to adverse cardiac outcomes. Overtreatment during pregnancy may increase the risk of premature delivery, low birth weight and other complications affecting the mother and fetus. In infants, too much thyroid hormone may negatively affect growth and development.

Vitruvias said it had not received any reports of adverse events associated with the recalled lot as of the recall announcement.

What patients should do

Patients should check their medication packaging for lot number 504950. Those who have the recalled tablets should contact their doctor or pharmacist for instructions and a possible replacement.

The company stressed that patients should not abruptly discontinue thyroid medication without first speaking with a healthcare provider. Suddenly stopping treatment could leave hypothyroidism untreated and create other health risks.

Vitruvias is notifying wholesalers by email and telephone, directing them to stop distributing the affected medication and arranging for recalled products to be destroyed.

Consumers with questions may contact Vitruvias Therapeutics at safety@vitruvias.com or 256-239-9373, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central time.

Anyone who has experienced a health problem that may be connected to the medication should contact a healthcare provider. Adverse reactions and product-quality issues may also be reported through the FDAs MedWatch program.

The FDA encourages manufacturers to eliminate six petroleum-based dyes by the end of 2027.

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• General Mills says all of its cereals sold in the U.S., including Lucky Charms and Trix, are now made without certified colors.

• The company met the goal on schedule after removing certified colors from all of its foods supplied to K-12 schools earlier this year.

• About 90% of General Mills U.S. retail products have now made the transition, with fruit snacks and baking products next in line.

General Mills has completed the removal of certified colors from its entire U.S. cereal portfolio, changing the recipes of some of the most colorful products in the breakfast aisle.

The company said Wednesday that all its cereals sold in the United States including Lucky Charms and Trix are now made without the synthetic dyes subject to Food and Drug Administration batch certification.

As the leader in cereal, General Mills is focused on giving people what they are looking for from the brands they know and love, Bethany Quam, president of Big G Cereal at General Mills, said in the companys announcement.

Quam said the reformulations are intended to meet changing consumer preferences while preserving taste, quality and value. The FDA encourages manufacturers to eliminate six petroleum-based dyes by the end of 2027.

The company did not identify all the replacement ingredients used in the reformulated cereals in its announcement. Packaging shown by General Mills states that the cereals now contain colors from natural sources. Consumers who want to know what is used in a particular product should check its current ingredient label because older packages may remain on store shelves during the transition.

What are certified colors?

Certified colors is a regulatory term generally covering synthetic dyes and pigments that must undergo FDA batch testing before manufacturers may use them. Common examples include Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1 and Blue 2.

Certification is intended to verify that each batch meets federal identity and purity requirements. The term does not mean that natural color additives are unregulated; the FDA must also authorize those ingredients for their intended uses.

The agency says most children do not experience adverse effects from approved color additives, although evidence suggests that certain children may be sensitive to them. Research into possible behavioral effects continues, according to the FDA.

The cereal changes come amid a broader government and industry effort to move away from petroleum-based synthetic dyes. In 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services and FDA announced plans to work with manufacturers to phase out several such dyes and expand the availability of alternatives from other sources.

A wider change is underway

General Mills announced its color-removal goals in June 2025. It completed the first major step in March 2026, when it said all foods it supplies to K-12 schools were being made without certified colors.

Completion of the cereal overhaul brings the company closer to its larger goal of removing certified colors from its full U.S. retail portfolio by the end of 2027.

General Mills said 90% of that portfolio has now completed the transition. Remaining categories include fruit snacks and baking products.

The food maker is also expanding its selection of products with more protein, fiber and familiar ingredients. General Mills said it plans to introduce more than twice as many products reflecting changing nutrition preferences during the current fiscal year as it did two years ago.

For shoppers, the most visible difference could be in brightly colored cereals. The companys announcement emphasizes that the products will continue to offer familiar taste and quality, but it does not promise that their appearance will be identical to the previous versions.

A few simple habits that could make your phone a better memory tool

• Screenshots may hurt your memory: Research found people remembered less about information they captured than information they simply viewed.

• Dont just screenshot and forget: If something matters, summarize it, save it somewhere useful, or revisit it later.

• Turn screenshots into action: Move appointments to your calendar, recipes to a saved folderm, and important reminders to a place youll actually check.

See a restaurant you want to try? Screenshot it. An important confirmation number? Screenshot. A recipe, gift idea, or interesting article? You know the drill.

But that convenient little habit may come with an unexpected downside.

A new study from researchers at Binghamton University found that people consistently remembered less about information they screenshotted than information they simply viewed. The research, recently highlighted by StudyFinds, involved seven experiments and 892 undergraduate students.

In one experiment, recognition of screenshotted images dropped below 60%, despite participants viewing a relatively small number of images.

Researchers call the phenomenon "digital amnesia."

So should you stop taking screenshots?

Not necessarily. The more useful lesson may be to stop treating the screenshot itself as the final step.

If it's important, do something with it

Researchers aren't certain why screenshotting appears to interfere with memory.

One possibility is cognitive offloading: Once your brain knows the information has been safely stored somewhere else, it may decide it doesn't need to work as hard to remember it.

Another possibility is that taking the screenshot causes you to mentally disengage from what you're looking at.

So give your brain another job.

After taking an important screenshot, spend a few seconds summarizing what you just saved. Instead of simply capturing a restaurant recommendation, for example, tell yourself: "That's the Italian restaurant Sarah recommended in Sacramento." That forces you to actually process the information instead of immediately swiping away.

Pro tip: If something really matters, write a quick note about it. The goal isn't merely to store the information it's to interact with it.

Don't let your camera roll become a junk drawer

Think about how many screenshots are currently sitting on your phone. Now think about how many you've actually looked at twice.

That's particularly relevant because the study tested screenshots that participants didn't review later. Researchers specifically caution that the findings don't tell us what happens when people actively return to saved screenshots.

So, try to create a simple review habit. Once a week, spend five minutes going through recent screenshots. At that point, delete what you no longer need and move useful information somewhere where you'll actually find it again.

A recipe goes into a recipes folder. An appointment goes into your calendar. A product you want to research goes onto a shopping list.

Pro tip: Set a recurring five-minute "screenshot cleanup" reminder. If an image has been sitting there for three months and you can't remember why you saved it, that's probably your answer.

Save the information where you'll need it

A screenshot of an appointment isn't nearly as useful as an appointment entered into your calendar. Neither is a screenshot of a hotel confirmation buried between a meme and a picture of shoes from the department store.

For genuinely important information, use the screenshot as a temporary holding place rather than a place for permanent storage.

Put addresses into contacts, confirmation numbers into trip notes, and deadlines into your calendar with an alert. The information will then become both easier to find and much harder to forget.

Don't screenshot something you're actually trying to learn

This might be the most useful takeaway for students, or anyone trying to remember instructions, directions, or other important information.

If your goal is learning, try to resist the urge to simply capture the screen. Instead, read it. Summarize it in your own words. Explain it to someone else. Then try to quiz yourself on it.

The researchers specifically looked for potential benefits that might compensate for the memory loss, such as freeing up mental resources for other tasks, but found little consistent evidence of one.

There's an important catch

Don't delete your entire screenshot folder because of one study.

Participants were 17 to 27-year-old college students from one university, so researchers say the findings may not apply equally to older adults or people with memory difficulties. And again, the experiments didn't examine what happens when people deliberately revisit their screenshots later.

The main takeaway is that if something is important enough to screenshot, make it important enough to look at again.

Otherwise, you may be saving it to your phone at the same moment your brain decides it doesn't need to save it at all.