Meta today said it will implement major changes to Facebook and Instagram's child safety features as part of a settlement agreement with almost all U.S. states.
Here's what will change for users under 18 on Instagram and Facebook if the agreement is approved.
- Time Limit - Teens will have a two-hour daily time limit on Facebook and Instagram, though it can be overridden by a parent. The two-hour total includes both apps.
- Night Mode - Users will be blocked from posting and viewing content between midnight and 6 a.m.
- School Mode - Notifications are muted between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.
- Prompts - The apps will send prompts after every 15 minutes of continuous screen time. There will also be prompts when daily usage hits 60 minutes and 90 minutes.
- Feed Control - Teens can choose a non-algorithmic feed that does not include personalization through the Instagram and Facebook recommendation systems. Parents will be able to require this setting.
- Autoplay Control - Teens will be able to turn off autoplay. Parents can require this setting.
- Hidden Likes - Teens won't see the likes and reactions on a post by default.
- Filters - Cosmetic surgery and extreme makeup filters won't be accessible to teens.
- Age Assurance - Meta plans to strengthen tools it uses to catch accounts belonging to users under 13, as well as accounts used by teens aged 13 to 17 to make sure the accounts have "experiences designed for teens."
- Parental Controls - Meta will add new controls for parents, notifying them if a teen links a second account or interacts with suspicious accounts. Parents will also get periodic updates on teen usage.
- Direct Messages - Direct messages are exempt from Time Limit, Night Mode, and School Mode.
Meta will also pay approximately $18 billion to states to fund online youth safety initiatives, which is far less than its 2025 net income of $60.5 billion. The payment will be spread over a 10-year period, and Meta is withholding $5.3 billion unless TikTok and YouTube implement similar measures. If they do, Meta says it will lower daily usage limits from two cumulative hours across both apps to one hour for each app and expand Night Mode to run from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Meta wants YouTube and TikTok to add a one-hour daily limit, night mode, and age assurance measures, as well as pay $5.3 billion each to match Meta's withheld $5.3 billion. Meta posted an open letter calling on TikTok and YouTube to implement the same measures. Teens with restrictions on Instagram and Facebook could instead just move over to TikTok and YouTube, and Meta likely doesn't want to be the only company losing out on revenue.
Meta has been in a federal trial over the lawsuit, and had it continued, it could have been forced to pay more. California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey were seeking closer to $200 billion in civil penalties, according to Reuters. The settlement came before Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was set to testify, but Florida declined to settle and will continue litigation. New Mexico was also uninvolved because it won its own case against Meta earlier this year.
