Meta rolls out sweeping Instagram and Facebook changes for teens
Meta agrees to two-hour daily limits for US teens and 10-year child safety safeguards as part of a nationwide settlement.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- US teens will soon face a two-hour daily limit across Facebook and Instagram.
- Meta agreed to pay $17.1 billion to states over a 10-year period.
- Most protective measures are mandated to remain in place for at least 10 years.
- New Mexico, Florida, and Texas are excluded due to separate legal frameworks.
Meta has agreed to implement sweeping modifications across Instagram and Facebook to enhance youth safety, following a comprehensive child safety settlement reached with state attorneys general throughout the United States.
The settlement stems from a nationwide lawsuit accusing Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snap of failing to protect children and engineering their platforms to foster addictive user habits. A coalition of 51 US states and territories, including New York, New Jersey, California, Nevada, South Carolina, Washington, and Illinois, signed the agreement. The majority of these safeguards are required to stay active for a minimum of 10 years.
Among the primary changes, teenage users across the US will soon encounter a strict two-hour daily time cap on both Facebook and Instagram, alongside nighttime usage restrictions and enhanced age verification measures.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
These new protections will roll out across all US jurisdictions except New Mexico, which remains embroiled in active litigation with Meta, and Florida, which previously banned children under 14 from holding social media accounts. Texas has also secured a separate settlement featuring comparable mandates.
"these protections will only be truly effective if we work with our peers."
Meta
Furthermore, Meta has pledged to maintain its existing safety standards, such as defaulting teen accounts to private settings, blocking potentially suspicious adults from direct messaging minors, and making it harder for adults to discover, follow, or engage with young users. The company will also sustain its age-appropriate content restrictions, concealing posts containing nudity, sexual themes, explicit language, or dangerous stunts from underage accounts.
This landmark legal settlement underscores the mounting regulatory and societal pressure facing tech giants regarding youth mental health and platform addiction. By conditioning a portion of its multi-billion-dollar settlement payouts on rival platforms like TikTok and YouTube adopting identical restrictions, Meta is signaling an industry-wide approach to juvenile digital safety.
Source: The Verge
Found something wrong in this article? Report an issue with this article
Comments
Leave a Comment