Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has agreed to introduce sweeping new restrictions on how teenagers use its platforms after reaching a landmark $17.1 billion settlement with US states over allegations concerning children’s safety.
The agreement will require Meta to introduce new protections for users under 18, including a two-hour daily usage limit, overnight access restrictions, school-hour notification controls and stronger age-verification measures.
The settlement resolves claims brought by a coalition of 47 US states and Washington, D.C., as well as Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. The states alleged that Meta designed its platforms with features that could encourage excessive use among children and exposed young users to serious harms. Meta has not admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
Under the agreement, the new protections will automatically apply to teenagers on Facebook and Instagram in participating US states and territories, subject to the terms of the settlement. Most of the measures are required to remain in place for 10 years.
One of the most significant changes is a default two-hour daily limit for teenagers.
Time spent on Facebook and Instagram will count toward the same two-hour allowance. Meta said the limit will also take multiple accounts into consideration if its systems detect that a teenager is using more than one account.
Teenagers will only be able to turn off the limit with parental permission. Once the permitted time is exhausted, access to Facebook and Instagram will be blocked.
Meta is also introducing a default Night Mode, which will prevent teenagers from using the platforms between midnight and 6am.
During those hours, underage users will not be able to post or view content across features including the Feed, Stories, Explore and Reels.
The company will also introduce School Mode, under which push notifications will be muted by default between 8am and 3pm.
Direct messages and alerts relating to account security or safety will still be delivered during those hours.
Teenagers will receive additional reminders about their usage, with prompts appearing after every 15 minutes of continuous screen time on Facebook or Instagram.
The prompts will supplement existing reminders that appear when teenagers reach certain levels of daily usage.
Another change will allow parents and teenagers to select a non-personalised feed as the default experience.
Unlike Meta’s algorithmically recommended feeds, the option will allow teenagers to view content without having it personalised through the company’s recommendation systems.
Meta will also allow parents and teenagers to turn off video autoplay. When autoplay is disabled, users will have to deliberately tap or swipe to view additional content rather than having videos automatically play.
For underage users, like and reaction counts will also be hidden by default on posts, whether the posts belong to the teenagers themselves or other users.
Meta is further expanding restrictions on appearance-related features. Teenagers will be prevented from using extreme makeup filters, adding to existing restrictions on cosmetic surgery-related filters.
The company said it is also strengthening its systems for identifying users who may actually be between 13 and 17 years old, even when they have entered an adult date of birth on their accounts.
The age-assurance measures are intended to ensure that teenagers receive the protections required under the agreement.
Meta will continue to automatically place teenagers into private accounts and restrict suspicious adults from contacting them. It will also continue restricting teenagers from following or interacting with accounts it considers inappropriate for their age.
The agreement also gives parents greater control over how their teenagers use the platforms.
Meta has described the changes as part of an effort to establish a broader industry standard for protecting teenagers online.
The company has called on TikTok and YouTube to introduce similar measures, including daily usage limits, nighttime restrictions, school-hour notification controls and regular screen-time prompts.
Meta said the financial terms of the agreement could reach approximately $18 billion, with about $12.7 billion expected to be distributed to participating states over 10 years.
A further $5.3 billion is contingent on TikTok and YouTube implementing specified measures and making corresponding payments.
“All platforms should empower parents and support teens by putting the same measures in place, because we know that when teens are restricted on one app, they simply move to another,” Meta said.
The settlement represents one of the largest state consumer protection agreements involving a technology company and could influence how major social media platforms design and manage services used by teenagers.
The new restrictions will initially apply within the United States and participating territories, meaning they do not automatically change how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram in Nigeria or other countries.
Meta’s agreement follows growing pressure from governments and regulators around the world over the impact of social media on children and teenagers.
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