Meta has agreed to impose nighttime curfews and daily usage limits on teenage accounts in participating U.S. states as part of a major settlement over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were designed to keep young users engaged for long periods.
The agreement, reached Wednesday, marks one of the biggest changes Meta has accepted for how teenagers use its social media platforms.
The company will also pay billions of dollars under the settlement, while states plan to direct much of the money toward youth mental health services and digital safety programmes.
Meta Faces Billions in Settlement Payments
Under the agreement, Meta will pay about $11.7 billion over 10 years.
The company could pay an additional $5 billion if competing social media platforms agree to comparable measures.
Meta will also pay about $75 million toward legal costs incurred by the states.
In addition, the company agreed to pay $459 million to resolve older claims linked to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
States could use the settlement money to support youth mental health programmes, crisis services, after-school activities and digital literacy initiatives. However, individual state legislatures will decide how to allocate the funds.
Teen Accounts Face Midnight Curfew
One of the most significant changes involves nighttime access.
Within six months, teenage accounts on Facebook and Instagram will automatically face a midnight-to-6am local-time block in participating states and territories.
Teenagers will still have access to certain messaging and account settings during those hours. However, Meta will restrict those features so users cannot access the wider platforms.
The company will also turn off push notifications from 10pm to 7am.
If rival platforms adopt similar measures, the overnight restriction could become even longer, running from 10pm to 7am.
Daily Social Media Use Will Be Limited
Teenage accounts will also receive a default daily limit of two hours across Meta’s participating apps.
The limit will reset at midnight each day.
However, messaging and long-form video will not count toward the two-hour total.
Teenagers will not be able to change the restrictions themselves. Instead, parents will have control over whether they want to tighten the limits.
If competing platforms accept comparable restrictions, the rules could become stricter, with a 60-minute daily allowance per app and a two-hour maximum across participating platforms.
Meta will also silence notifications during school hours, defined as 8am to 3pm on weekdays between August 15 and June 15.
Meta to Offer Less Personalized Feeds
The agreement also introduces changes to how teenagers see content.
Within four months, Meta must offer teenage users a feed that does not rely on algorithmic personalization.
The company will also hide like counts by default for teen accounts.
In addition, cosmetic surgery filters will no longer be available to teenage users under the settlement.
The changes aim to reduce some of the features critics say can encourage young people to spend more time on social media or compare themselves with others.
Stronger Age Verification Rules
Meta will have one year to introduce an age-assurance system that meets specific accuracy standards.
The system must incorrectly classify no more than 3% of users aged 13 to 15 as adults and no more than 10% of users aged 16 and 17 as adults.
New accounts that remain age-unverified after 14 days will automatically receive teen-account treatment, regardless of the age entered during registration.
The settlement also includes additional protections for children under 13.
U.S. law prohibits children under 13 from using the platforms. Meta must therefore presume that a reported account belongs to an underage user unless evidence shows otherwise.
The company must also examine the friend networks of deleted accounts to identify other potentially underage users.
Parents Get More Control
Parents supervising teen accounts will receive more information and control.
They will get daily notifications showing how much time their teenagers spend on Meta’s platforms.
Parents will also receive reminders to review account settings and will have the ability to adjust school-hour restrictions.
The agreement also requires Meta to respond to reports involving illegal or offensive content more quickly.
The company must respond within six hours in at least 90% of qualifying reports submitted in English or Spanish.
Independent Monitor Will Track Compliance
An independent auditor will monitor Meta’s compliance with the settlement.
Meta and a committee representing participating states will jointly select the auditor, while Meta will cover the cost.
The independent monitoring will continue for 10 years.
The long oversight period reflects the seriousness of the allegations against the company and gives authorities a mechanism to track whether Meta follows the agreement.
Meta Calls on TikTok and YouTube to Act
Meta says the new restrictions apply only in participating U.S. states and territories.
The company also called on major competitors, including YouTube and TikTok, to introduce comparable protections for teenagers.
Meta has argued that online safety for young people requires action across the entire social media industry rather than restrictions on a single company.
The company says it will continue working with parents, policymakers and regulators in other countries on measures designed to support teenagers and give parents greater control.
Settlement Resolves Major Claims Against Meta
The agreement resolves claims brought by 29 states that accused Meta of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to keep children engaged.
The states also alleged that the company misled the public about risks to young users and unlawfully collected information from children under 13.
A larger group of states and territories initially reached a settlement with Meta, while Texas negotiated a separate agreement that pushed the total potential payout to roughly $18 billion.
A federal judge quickly approved the settlement.
The agreement does not end all of Meta’s legal problems involving young users.
The company still faces thousands of individual personal injury claims as well as lawsuits involving school districts.
The case brought by the 29 states represented one of the most significant legal challenges Meta has faced over its treatment of children and teenagers.
Meta had warned that losing the case in court could have exposed the company to more than $1 trillion in penalties.
The new agreement now puts major restrictions on how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram while giving parents and regulators greater oversight.
