Along with paying up to $18 billion, the social media company will also be instituting a slew of new safety features for users under 18.
HARRISBURG, Pa. — After agreeing to pay up to $18 billion as part of a landmark trial over teen social media addiction, Meta will also be adding child safety measures to Facebook and Instagram.
Multiple states joined the lawsuit against Meta which will be forced to implement new child safety measures such as like count bans, time limits and nighttime use bans for users under 18. The features are designed to help mitigate the addictive factors of social media.
“They’re looking for the likes and the shares to their comments and that can positively impact their self-esteem and their mood, but then prolonged use can also lead to them being dependent in some way on these social media platforms and over time, this can negatively impact mental health,” said Dr. Usman Hameed, a child psychiatrist with Penn State Health.
The features that are being implemented by the lawsuit include:
- A default daily time limit of two hours for users under 18 that can only be lifted by a parent. If other social media platforms agree to similar terms, the daily time limit will drop to one hour.
- A default nighttime block between midnight and 6am for users under 18 that can only be lifted by a parent. If other social media platforms agree to similar terms, the nighttime block will expand to cover 10 pm to 7 am.
- Default blocks on notifications to users under 18 from 10 pm to 7 am and during the school day (8 am to 3 pm from Aug. 15 to June 15).
- An enhanced mechanism for teens to report potentially harmful content and a requirement that Meta respond to 90% of those reports within six hours.
- A ban on displaying the numbers of likes or reactions to users under 18.
- A ban on cosmetic procedure image filters for users under 18.
- An option for users under 18 to have a non-personalized feed, meaning a feed that doesn’t use an algorithm to target them with content aimed to keep them endlessly scrolling.
- A commitment from Meta to maintain, review and improve existing teen content safety measures.
While measures such as the nighttime ban and notifications block during the school day are designed to help kids, Dr. Hameed says that a helping hand from parents will also be needed.
“Encouraging healthy habits. So in-person connections, exploring hobbies and interests with them, not simply telling our children to, quote, unquote, do these things, but to participate in these activities with them.” explained Dr. Hameed
With the features being added and the help of parents, Dr. Hameed says it is a combined effort that will make the most difference in the role social media plays in the lives of kids and teens.
“It’s a combined effort and support from not just these platforms, but also the parents and the caregivers and academic institutions,” said Dr. Hameed. “It’ll take the entire village to raise our children the way they ought to be raised.”
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