Under an $18 billion settlement resolving claims filed by 29 U.S. states over children's safety, Meta on Wednesday committed to extensive modifications intended to limit minors' use of Instagram and Facebook. The social media company announced that new safeguards will apply automatically to users younger than 18 in participating states and territories, subject to court approval. The bulk of these controls must stay active for a decade.
Among the most significant changes, Meta plans to impose a daily two-hour usage cap for teenagers across both platforms, which can only be turned off with a parent's consent. Once teens hit that threshold, they'll be locked out of Facebook and Instagram. The company said the limit will be cumulative across the two apps and will take effect even if it detects someone using multiple accounts. Meta will also roll out a default "Night Mode" lockout between midnight and 6 a.m. that stops underage users from accessing, posting, or viewing any portion of its platforms. While the company already silences notifications for teens overnight, a spokesperson confirmed the new feature will block them entirely after midnight. Teenagers will now see prompts every 15 minutes of uninterrupted use on Facebook or Instagram, adding to existing alerts that appear when total daily usage reaches 60 minutes. The company will also disable autoplay by default, requiring parents and teens to tap or swipe deliberately to view additional content. Like and reaction counts on posts will be hidden by default for underage users, whether on their own content or others'. Meta will also block minors from accessing extreme makeup filters, expanding current bans that already prevent them from using cosmetic surgery filters. During school hours—set as 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.—notifications will be muted by default, with exceptions only for direct messages and alerts tied to account security or safety.
The company said kids will be able to select a non-algorithmic feed not shaped by its recommendation systems as their default view. Parents and guardians can configure their teenage children's default experience to show a non-personalized feed, a shift from the current setup where algorithmic feeds appear each time the app opens. Meta also stated it's enhancing its technology for detecting users who may be between 13 and 17, even when they supply an adult birth date, to guarantee they receive proper protections. In an open letter, the social media giant called on TikTok and YouTube to join it in establishing an industrywide standard by adopting a daily time cap, nighttime access restrictions, muted notifications during school, and 15-minute usage prompts. The settlement's distribution to states will occur over 10 years, but 30% of the total—roughly $5.3 billion—will only be disbursed if YouTube and TikTok put the same limits in place.
The settlement reflects mounting regulatory pressure on social platforms to address harms linked to prolonged youth engagement, particularly around mental health and algorithmic content delivery. Meta wrote that when teens face restrictions on one app, they simply migrate to another, arguing all platforms should empower parents and support teens by implementing identical measures. The company said it will keep preventing teens from following or engaging with accounts it deems age-inappropriate, and will maintain defaults that place teens in private accounts and restrict suspicious adults from contacting them. By tying a substantial portion of the payout to competitor adoption, Meta is effectively pressuring rivals to match its restrictions or risk being seen as less protective of minors. The challenge for platforms will be balancing shareholder expectations for engagement with the operational complexity of enforcing cross-app time limits and age verification at scale. Whether competitors embrace these standards or resist them will likely define the next chapter of youth safety regulation across social media.