Meta’s teen safety settlement may reduce young users’ screen time without making Instagram safer, former safety engineer Arturo Bejar warned. The agreement required payments of up to $18 billion over 10 years, alongside changes to Facebook and Instagram.
The agreement covers 48 US states, the District of Columbia and three territories, according to Meta’s announcement.
US states accused Meta of using features that encouraged compulsive use and harmed children’s mental health. The company denied wrongdoing. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approved the agreement. The federal trial began in Oakland, California, on August 18.
Bejar said that the settlement could reinforce what he called “safety theatre". He argued that limits on usage would not resolve the safety failures he described during his testimony.
The former engineer alleged that Meta understated how often teenagers experienced harm on its platforms. He also questioned its response to reports involving child predators and its handling of harmful content.
Meanwhile, earlier internal research tested whether hiding like counts improved users’ experiences. The initiative, Project Daisy, found only modest changes in users’ experiences.
Researchers also raised concerns about recommendation systems directing teenagers toward beauty and fitness content that worsened existing self-esteem issues. The settlement does not require Meta to abandon personalised recommendations.
Meta will introduce a default daily limit of two hours across Facebook and Instagram for users under 18. Teenagers will need parental permission to change the limit.
Night mode will block access to feeds, Stories, Explore and Reels between midnight and 6 a.m. School mode will mute most notifications between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Exceptions include safety and account security alerts.
Direct messaging falls outside the daily limit, night mode and school mode restrictions. Prompts will appear after 15 minutes of continuous use. Further reminders will follow at 60 and 90 minutes of daily use.
Additionally, teenagers can disable autoplay and choose a feed that does not personalise recommendations. Meta will hide like counts by default and block extreme makeup filters.
The agreement also requires stronger age checks and parental controls. An independent auditor will assess Meta’s compliance and report findings to states. Meta also plans to identify teenagers who enter adult birth dates when registering accounts.
The lawsuit began in 2023 and included claims about Meta’s collection of data from children under 13. State lawyers relied on internal research, emails and employee messages during the trial.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the deal “will make social media less dangerous for our kids”. His office said Meta must improve harmful-content reporting and respond to 90% of those reports within six hours.
Meta’s chief legal officer, CJ Mahoney, said the agreement would give parents more control over their children’s use. The company also urged YouTube and TikTok to adopt similar restrictions. Most requirements run for 10 years, although the initial daily limits and nighttime blocks cover five years.
The full payment depends on those rivals meeting conditions. Meta says states will receive about $12.7 billion over the decade. Another $5.3 billion depends on YouTube and TikTok adopting specified safeguards and meeting payment requirements. These conditions include daily usage limits, night restrictions and age checks on both rival platforms.
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