Meta agrees decade-long Instagram and Facebook teen safeguards in US
Developing story first seen 3 hours ago
Meta’s settlement now includes detailed limits on teenage use of Instagram and Facebook, including overnight access restrictions, school-day notification controls and prompts intended to curb prolonged scrolling. The decade-long safeguards arise from a US child-safety case alleging that major social-media platforms were designed in ways that harmed children.
– Meta must offer teens a readily accessible non-personalised feed within four months.
– It must strengthen age checks, remove under-13s and apply teen protections by default to unevaluated new users.
– Teen use across both apps will be limited to two hours daily unless a parent overrides it.
– Teens will receive scrolling prompts every 15 minutes, with further prompts after 60 and 90 minutes.
– Most access will be blocked from midnight to 6am, except messaging and account settings.
– Push notifications will be muted by default from 8am to 3pm, apart from direct messages and safety alerts.
– Teens will be offered a way to switch off autoplay.
- Meta will impose extensive US teen safeguards for at least 10 years.
- Teen access will be limited at night and during school hours.
- Parents can adjust several of the new restrictions.
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Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, two of the world’s biggest social-media services. Both are widely used by teenagers to share photos and videos, follow accounts, message friends and view an endless stream of recommended posts.
US authorities and families have increasingly questioned whether social-media companies do enough to protect younger users. Concerns have included how platforms check users’ ages, how recommendations can keep people scrolling, and whether alerts and late-night use affect sleep, school and wellbeing.
The case involving Meta is part of a broader US push to make technology companies more responsible for child safety online. A settlement is an agreement that ends or narrows a legal dispute without a court deciding the full case at trial.
Full account
Meta has agreed to introduce a package of safeguards for teenage users of Instagram and Facebook in the United States, settling claims brought by a large coalition of state and territorial attorneys general. The case alleged that major social-media companies had built products that could foster compulsive use and failed to protect children adequately. Meta denies wrongdoing, but the agreement would bring changes to the everyday experience of young users and is subject to court approval.
The measures described include a daily two-hour cap across Facebook and Instagram for teen accounts, unless a parent disables it, alongside restrictions on use at night. The agreement also calls for prompts intended to interrupt lengthy scrolling, and for a more readily available non-personalised feed option. Source 2 additionally highlights limits on notifications during school hours and a ban on certain plastic-surgery-style filters.
A central part of the settlement concerns age assurance. Meta is expected to improve its ability to identify users who may be under 13, who are not permitted to use the platforms, and those aged 13 to 17, who should receive teen protections. New accounts not yet assessed would receive those protections by default. The reported terms also include data-minimisation requirements, an appeal route for users classified as minors and independent review of the age-assurance system.
The safeguards are expected to apply for at least a decade in most participating jurisdictions. Source 1 says they would cover every US state except New Mexico, where litigation continues, and Florida, which has its own law on younger children’s social-media accounts; it also notes that Texas made a separate deal with Meta. Source 2 reports that the financial element could be worth up to $18bn to the states over ten years, while Meta has argued that comparable action by other platforms would be necessary because teenagers use multiple apps.
Where outlets differ
Source 1 gives more operational detail, including the four-month deadline for a non-personalised-feed option, how the two-hour limit would span alternate accounts, and activities said not to count towards it.
Source 2 places greater weight on the California trial, the alleged mental-health consequences, the reported $18bn payment and comments from state attorneys general and Meta.
Source 1 focuses on the geographical scope and exceptions; Source 2 describes the safeguards as nationwide without setting out those exceptions.
Source 2 mentions school-time notification limits, overnight blocks and plastic-surgery filters, while the supplied portion of Source 1 instead concentrates on feeds, age checks, time limits and scrolling prompts.
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Originally published by The Verge as “All the ways Instagram and Facebook are changing for teens”.