WASHINGTON (TNND) — Meta is overhauling how teens will experience Instagram and Facebook after a nearly $18 billion settlement with nearly every U.S. state in a lawsuit over claims of social media addiction and failures to protect children.
Users under 18 are already automatically placed in Teen Accounts, which are set to private by default and limit access to certain kinds of content. But the settlement will soon impose new restrictions on how long teens can use Instagram and Facebook and what they will be able to see, while also giving teens and their parents to reduce their exposure to potentially addictive features.
Teenagers will soon have strict time limits placed on their accounts unless their parent goes into setting to give them permission for more time. They will have two hours a day on Instagram and Facebook and will also be restricted from using the apps between midnight and 6 a.m. Notifications for the apps will also be silenced during school hours from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Teens will receive on-screen prompts every 15 minutes of continuous use on Facebook or Instagram, along with warnings when their daily usage hits 60 and 90 minutes. The company said the warnings are meant to encourage intentional use.
Other mandatory changes including hiding the number of likes and reactions on posts by default and blocking cosmetic surgery and makeup filters.
But not all of the changes are going to be automatic or default settings, leaving teens or parents to opt into them. Teen users will be able to switch their feed to chronological instead of algorithmic, which personalizes what content they see based on recommendation systems. Meta said it will periodically remind teens of the option to turn off the algorithmic feed and allow parents to adjust their child’s settings.
Teens can also opt out of autoplay for videos that automatically play while scrolling and instead would have to tap or swipe to see more.
While the options to limit a teen’s experience are available, researchers have found that most users stick with default settings. Online safety advocates have also argued putting the onus on parents to limit their child’s experience on social media is ineffective compared to just making the platforms safe for teens.
“How many kids are even aware of how AI works to deliver that out algorithm?” said Adam Peruta, an associate professor and director of Syracuse University’s Advanced Media Management program. “I would guess that this is going to be one of those things that’s also going to be in the low percentage points in terms of opting in.”
How effective the restrictions will be will at least partially depend on how well they are able to detect which users are minors, another issue that was addressed in the settlement. Meta has already implemented that technology but promised to invest in stronger technology to catch accounts that belong to users under 13, the minimum age to use its platforms.
The company also said it was strengthening the technology it uses to find users between 13 and 17 to make sure they are placed in the experiences designed for teens. Meta has acknowledged its system for preventing underage users from lying about their age or creating a fake parental supervisor account is not foolproof.
As part of the agreement, Meta asked its competitors like TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat put similar restrictions in place to prevent teens from simply switching to a different app when they run out of time on Facebook or Instagram.
“We want to ensure teens benefit from this new industry standard, but we cannot do it alone. These protections will only be truly effective if we work with our peers — TikTok and YouTube — to put the same measures in place,” Meta said. “All platforms should empower parents and support teens in these ways because we know that when teens are restricted on one app, they simply move to another. For meaningful progress to happen, we urge our peers to join us.”
It is unclear whether other companies will agree to such changes, but Meta is not the only social media company facing lawsuits over alleged harms to children. Snap, YouTube and TikTok have all been named in lawsuits by individuals, school districts and states, adding to pressures on the industry to address how underage users interact with their platforms.
Mounting legal pressures, along with continued promises by Congress to regulate social media and a wave of state-level laws are adding to the impetus for companies to change their practices.
Scrutiny over Big Tech’s practices toward underage users have steadily picked up steam in recent years amid releases of internal documents in lawsuits and congressional investigations that found platforms were aware of the harms their products were causing but opting not to act.
“This lawsuit with Meta is such a huge deal that will send some shockwaves out there across the rest of the social media landscape,” Peruta said. “This is really setting the tone and letting social media platforms know that things have to change.”
