Meta Platforms has agreed to impose sweeping restrictions on how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram under a settlement with 47 US states, the District of Columbia, and several US territories, including Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.
California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey were among the states that originally sued Meta in 2023, alongside states including New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts and Virginia. Florida and New Mexico are not part of the agreement.
Under the agreement, Meta will impose the following restrictions and safeguards on teen users:
- Two-hour daily limit – Users under 18 will face a two-hour daily limit across Facebook and Instagram. Time spent on both platforms will count toward the same cap. A verified parent can lift the restriction.
- Overnight restrictions – Teenagers will be blocked from using the platforms between midnight and 6 a.m., unless a parent gives permission.
- Fewer school-hour notifications – Meta will disable most push notifications between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. to reduce interruptions that could draw young users back to the apps.
- Stronger age assurance – Meta will strengthen its systems for determining users’ ages to identify those who should be subject to the teen restrictions and keep children under 13 from using the platforms.
- Non-personalized feeds – Teen users will be allowed to switch to feeds that are not personalized by Meta’s recommendation systems.
- Autoplay controls – Teenagers will be able to turn off autoplay.
- Like and reaction counts – Teen users will be able to hide public like and reaction counts.
- Greater parental controls – Parents will have additional controls, including the ability to require their children to use non-algorithmic feeds.
- Limits on certain filters – Meta will prohibit cosmetic-procedure and extreme-makeup filters for users under 18.
- Faster safety responses – Meta will strengthen its systems for reporting harmful content and will be required to respond to 90% of teen safety alerts within six hours.
The changes are part of a proposed settlement resolving allegations that Meta deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to encourage compulsive use among young people, while misleading the public about the risks and its safety measures. Meta denied the wrongdoing.
The company will pay at least $12.7 billion under the settlement with the states, with the total potentially reaching about $16.7 billion depending on whether other social media companies adopt comparable protections. Including related agreements, the overall value of the settlement package is estimated at about 18$ billion.
Another $5 billion is contingent on competitors such as TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat adopting comparable protections.
