Meta Agrees to New Teen Safety Limits on Facebook and Instagram

Meta is introducing a series of new safety restrictions for teenagers on Facebook and Instagram as part of an $18 billion settlement agreement with 29 U.S. states over claims related to children’s online safety.

The changes include daily usage limits, a new nighttime restriction setting, autoplay controls, notification changes and additional parental controls. Meta said the protections will automatically apply to users under 18 in participating states and territories after judicial approval, with many of the requirements remaining active for 10 years.

Two-Hour Daily Limit and Night Restrictions

One of the biggest changes is a two-hour daily time limit across Facebook and Instagram for teen users. The limit will combine usage from both platforms, and teenagers will only be able to turn it off with parental permission.

Meta said the restriction will also apply when its systems identify that a user may be operating multiple accounts. Once the limit is reached, teens will no longer be able to access Facebook or Instagram until the restriction resets.

The company is also introducing a default “Night Mode” that will block underage users from accessing, posting or viewing content on its platforms between midnight and 6 a.m. Meta previously muted nighttime notifications for teens, but the new setting will prevent access to the platform during those hours.

New Feed, Notification and Content Controls

Teen users will be able to choose a non-personalised feed as their default experience. Previously, Instagram and Facebook allowed users to switch to chronological feeds temporarily, but the algorithmic feed would return when the apps were reopened.

Meta will also introduce prompts after every 15 minutes of continuous usage. These will work alongside existing reminders that appear after teens reach 60 minutes of daily activity.

The company plans to turn off notifications by default during school hours defined as 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. During this period, teens will not receive most push notifications, except for direct messages and safety or account security alerts.

Another update will allow parents and teenagers to turn off autoplay. Users will need to take an active action, such as tapping or swiping, before viewing additional content.

Stronger Age Detection and Parental Protections

Meta said it is improving its systems for identifying users between 13 and 17 years old, including cases where someone provides an adult birth date during account creation.

The company will also hide like and reaction counts by default for teen users. The restriction will apply to both posts created by teenagers and content posted by others.

Meta is expanding restrictions on appearance-related effects by blocking extreme makeup filters for underage users. The company will continue to limit age-inappropriate accounts, keep teen accounts private by default, and restrict suspicious adults from contacting younger users.

Meta has also called on TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar protections, including daily time limits, nighttime restrictions, school-hour notification controls and usage reminders.

Under the settlement terms, the $18 billion payment will be distributed to states over 10 years. Meta said that about 30% of the settlement, or roughly $5.3 billion, would be paid only if YouTube and TikTok implement comparable restrictions.