Meta is set to make its biggest-ever changes to how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram after agreeing to pay up to $17 billion to settle a landmark legal battle with US states over alleged harms to children.
The settlement, which covers 48 states, Washington, DC and several US territories, ends a trial that accused Meta of designing its platforms to keep young users hooked, while allegedly concealing the risks and collecting data from children under 13 without parental consent.
The financial penalty is only one part of the agreement. The more significant impact could come from a sweeping package of new limits, parental controls, age checks and changes to engagement features.
Two-hour daily limit for teens
One of the biggest changes will be a default two-hour daily limit on Facebook and Instagram for teenage users.
The limit can be overridden only with parental permission. Time spent messaging or watching long-form video will not count toward the limit under the settlement’s terms.
If other major platforms adopt similar measures, Meta could eventually tighten the limit further.
Instagram and Facebook to block teens overnight
Meta will introduce an automatic nighttime block for teenage accounts, preventing access to Facebook and Instagram between midnight and 6 a.m. local time.
The company has argued that restrictions on late-night use are important because teenagers can spend significant amounts of time on social media during hours normally reserved for sleep.
If TikTok and YouTube agree to comparable measures under the settlement’s incentive structure, the overnight restriction could expand to 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Push notifications to be muted during school hours
Meta will also stop sending push notifications to teenagers during weekday school hours.
The move is designed to reduce interruptions and limit the ability of notifications to pull young users back into the apps throughout the day.
The company will also introduce stronger parental controls, giving parents greater ability to manage how their children use Facebook and Instagram.
Likes and other engagement features will change
Meta will limit features that encourage social comparison among teenagers.
That includes hiding like counts and restricting other engagement mechanisms that can encourage users to measure their popularity against others.
Meta will also disable certain cosmetic surgery and extreme makeup filters for young users.
The company is expected to introduce controls over video autoplay and offer teenagers the ability to choose a non-algorithmic feed, giving them an alternative to feeds primarily determined by recommendation systems.
Meta to strengthen age verification
A major part of the settlement involves improving Meta’s ability to determine whether users are actually as old as they claim.
Meta prohibits children under 13 from using Facebook and Instagram, but younger users have historically been able to bypass the restriction by providing false birth dates.
Rather than requiring every user to submit government-issued identification or a video selfie, Meta plans to rely heavily on age-assurance technology and AI-based detection.
The company can use signals such as a user’s connections, followers, birthday messages and other activity to identify accounts that may belong to children.
For suspected under-13 users, Meta will also examine their networks and make it easier for people to report accounts believed to belong to children.
New safeguards for harmful content
The settlement requires Meta to introduce age-appropriate content controls designed to protect teenagers from harmful material.
These measures will target areas including bullying, eating disorders and self-harm-related content.
An independent auditor will monitor Meta’s implementation of the safety measures and assess how effectively the company is complying with the settlement.
Meta wants TikTok and YouTube to follow
Meta is also attempting to turn the settlement into an industry-wide framework.
Around $5.3 billion, or about 30% of the settlement amount, will be released to states only if TikTok and YouTube agree to implement comparable safeguards and collectively pay the same amount.
The proposed measures would include a one-hour daily limit, nighttime restrictions and stronger age-assurance systems.
Meta says teenagers move between multiple platforms, meaning restrictions on just Facebook and Instagram could simply push young users toward competitors.