What Could Change For US Teens On Instagram And Facebook

In a landmark development, Meta reached a proposed settlement Wednesday with US states over claims it designed Facebook and Instagram to hook children.

Here are the main terms, which require a judge’s approval to take effect.

The money

Meta would pay in 10 annual installments totaling about $11.7 billion, with a further $5 billion payable only if rival platforms sign comparable agreements — a maximum of $16.7 billion.

Separately, the company would pay $75 million toward the states’ legal costs and $459 million to settle older claims tied to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

States are expected to spend the money on youth mental health programs, crisis lines, after-school activities and digital literacy, though final decisions rest with state legislatures.

Nighttime block

Within six months, teenage accounts would by default be locked out of Facebook and Instagram from midnight to 6:00 am local time.

Messaging and settings would stay available but stripped down so teens cannot use them to reach the wider app. Push notifications would be switched off from 10:00 pm to 7:00 am.

Daily time limit

Teen accounts would default to two hours of cumulative daily use across Meta’s apps, resetting at midnight. Messaging and long-form video do not count toward the total.

Neither the curfew nor the cap can be changed by a teenager without a parent’s approval and the limits can be tightened.

If competing platforms adopt equivalent commitments, the overnight block widens to 10:00 pm to 7:00 am and the daily allowance drops to 60 minutes per app, capped at two hours across all of them.

Notifications would be silenced during school hours, defined as 8:00 am to 3:00 pm on weekdays between August 15 and June 15.

Within four months, teens would be offered a feed that is not algorithmically personalized. Like counts would be hidden by default and cosmetic surgery filters barred.

Age checks

Meta has one year to deploy an accurate age assurance system: age-checking tools must mistake no more than three percent of 13- to 15-year-olds as adults, and no more than 10 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds.

New accounts whose age is unverified after 14 days are treated as teen accounts regardless of the age stated.

For users under 13, who are barred from the platforms under US law, Meta must presume a reported account is underage absent evidence otherwise and check the friend networks of deleted accounts for other underage users.

Role of parents

Parents supervising a teen account would get daily notifications of time spent, prompts to review settings and the power to adjust school hours.

Meta must respond to teens reporting illegal or offensive content within six hours in at least 90 percent of cases filed in English or Spanish.

An independent auditor, chosen jointly by Meta and a committee of states and paid for by the company, would monitor compliance of the overall settlement for 10 years.

A separate ruling bars Meta from making false or misleading statements about its safety features.

AFP