Meta settlement adds teen time limits, night lockouts and non-personalized feeds

Meta has agreed to a sweeping child safety settlement with attorneys general across the US, and it will change the day-to-day experience of Facebook and Instagram for teenagers in concrete ways. According to The Verge, the agreement was signed by a group of 51 US states and territories and requires most of the new safeguards to stay in place for at least ten years.

The case grew out of a nationwide lawsuit claiming that Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap designed addictive platforms and failed to protect children. The changes will apply in every US state except New Mexico, which is still in active litigation with Meta, and Florida, which bars children under 14 from opening social media accounts at all. The Verge reports that Texas struck its own separate settlement with Meta containing similar requirements.

The biggest product changes

Within four months, Meta must offer teens a "reasonably accessible" feed option that is not personalized by its recommendation engine. Teens will get periodic reminders that the option exists, and parents can make it the default for their child's account.

Teens will also face a cumulative two-hour daily limit across both Instagram and Facebook, and The Verge notes that the cap applies across alternate accounts if Meta detects them. Time spent on videos or audio longer than 22 minutes, messaging, and app settings will not count toward the allowance, which resets at midnight. Parents can lift the limit.

Other changes target compulsive use directly. Meta will interrupt continuous scrolling with a prompt every 15 minutes, alongside additional prompts after 60 and 90 minutes. A sample notification in the settlement reads, "You've scrolled for a while. Try exploring something new," with options to browse other topics or review the algorithm. Between midnight and 6AM, teens will be locked out of feeds, stories, reels and Explore, and will be unable to post, though messaging and account settings remain available. Push notifications are muted by default from 8AM to 3PM, except for direct messages and account security or safety alerts. Parents can adjust the strictness of each of these settings.

Two more changes reshape the content itself. Teens will be able to turn off autoplay, forcing a tap or swipe to advance to the next item, and Meta will hide like and reaction counts on teens' posts by default while also hiding them from teens elsewhere. Meta will additionally restrict access to "extreme makeup" filters on top of its existing ban on cosmetic surgery filters, though the carve-outs are broad: fantasy or animal effects, appearance-distorting gags and filters equivalent to ordinary makeup are all excluded.

Age checks and existing safeguards

The settlement also pushes Meta on age assurance. The company must either keep building its own method for estimating age or adopt a third-party standard, capable of flagging users under 13 for removal and users aged 13 to 17 for teen account protections. New users who have not yet been evaluated will receive teen protections by default. Meta must follow data minimization rules, offer an appeals process for users labeled as minors, and submit its age assurance system to review by an independent auditor.

According to The Verge, Meta is also committing to keep measures it already runs: private-by-default teen accounts, blocks on "potentially suspicious adults" messaging teens, friction that makes it harder for adults to find and follow young users, and content filters that hide nudity, sexual material, strong language and risky stunts from teens.

The price tag and pressure on rivals

The financial terms are unusual. Meta must pay $17.1 billion to states over ten years, but says it will pay $5.3 billion of that sum only if TikTok and YouTube each pay the same amount and also adopt a daily teen time limit, nighttime restrictions and age assurance measures. Meta has publicly called on those competitors to follow suit, arguing the protections only work if rivals do the same.

Why it matters

This settlement is a rare case of regulators dictating product design rather than just collecting a fine. Default settings, feed ranking, autoplay and notification timing are the levers platforms use to drive engagement, and the agreement pulls several of them in the opposite direction for an entire age group. The contingent payment structure also turns Meta's rivals' compliance into part of the deal's economics, which could accelerate similar changes at TikTok and YouTube if the tactic works. How well age assurance and alternate-account detection hold up in practice will determine whether the restrictions bite or simply push teens toward workarounds.