Meta has reached an agreement with attorneys general from 52 US states, territories and the District of Columbia to introduce stricter safety protections for teenagers on Instagram and Facebook. The agreement includes a two-hour daily time limit, overnight restrictions, muted notifications during school hours, stronger parental controls and new age assurance measures.
The deal is aimed at creating a broader standard for teen safety on social media. Meta says the protections will be more effective if other major platforms adopt similar measures, and is calling on TikTok and YouTube to join the framework.
New Protections for Teens on Instagram and Facebook
Pending judicial approval, the new protections will automatically apply to users under 18 in participating jurisdictions. Most of the requirements are expected to remain in place for 10 years.
The main changes include:
- Two-hour daily time limit: Teens will have a default two-hour combined daily limit across Instagram and Facebook. They will need parental permission to turn off the limit. Meta says usage across multiple accounts will also count when it detects that the accounts belong to the same person.
- Night Mode: Instagram and Facebook will be blocked by default between midnight and 6 AM. Teens will not be able to view or post to their Feed, Stories, Explore or Reels during this period.
- School Mode: Notifications will be muted by default between 8 AM and 3 PM. Direct messages and account security or safety alerts will still come through.
- Screen time reminders: Teens will receive prompts after every 15 minutes of continuous use, as well as when their total daily usage reaches 60 and 90 minutes.
- Non-algorithmic feeds: Teens will be able to choose a feed that is not personalized by Meta’s recommendation systems as their default. Parents can also require this setting.
- Autoplay controls: Teens will be able to disable autoplay so they must deliberately tap or swipe to continue viewing content. Parents can make this the default setting.
- Hidden likes: Like and reaction counts will be hidden by default from teens on their own posts and posts from other users.
- Stricter appearance filters: Meta will continue blocking cosmetic surgery filters for teens and will also block extreme makeup filters.
- Age assurance: Meta will strengthen its technology for identifying accounts that may belong to users under 13 and for detecting users between 13 and 17 who may have provided an incorrect adult birthday.
- Age-appropriate content: Teen accounts will remain in Meta’s 13+ content settings by default. The company will also prevent teens from following or interacting with accounts considered inappropriate for their age.
- Protection from suspicious adults: Instagram teen accounts will remain private by default, while Facebook will continue using private default settings. Meta will also strengthen measures designed to stop potentially suspicious adults from finding or contacting teens.
- Reporting and harmful content protections: Teens will continue to have tools for reporting concerning content. Meta says it will also work to improve response times and monitor how often teens encounter potentially harmful experiences.
- Stronger parental controls: Parents will receive additional notifications and insights, including alerts when a teen links a secondary account or interacts with potentially suspicious accounts. Parents will also receive updates about usage and attempts to change protective settings.
Direct messaging will be excluded from the Night Mode, Time Limit and School Mode restrictions, allowing teens to stay connected with friends and family.
Meta Calls on TikTok and YouTube to Adopt the Rules
Meta says the new protections will only be fully effective if teens receive similar safeguards across the different platforms they use. The company is therefore calling on TikTok and YouTube to adopt the same framework.
The agreement includes additional incentives for industry-wide adoption. If TikTok and YouTube implement the required measures, Meta’s commitments will become stronger.
The daily limit would be reduced to one hour per app, while Night Mode would expand from midnight-6 AM to 10 PM-7 AM. The commitments for these two features would also extend from five years to 10 years.
Meta argues that consistent rules across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube would make it harder for teens to bypass restrictions simply by switching between apps.
Meta Agreement Includes $18 Billion Payment
The agreement includes a payment of approximately $18 billion, which will be distributed over 10 years and can be used for youth online safety initiatives and other state priorities.
Participating jurisdictions are expected to receive around 70%, or approximately $12.7 billion, through annual installments. The remaining $5.3 billion will depend on TikTok and YouTube meeting specific requirements and making matching payments.
Meta also expects to record approximately $10 billion in legal expenses in Q3 2026 related to the agreement. The company said this expense was not included in the guidance provided during its second-quarter earnings call.
The agreement will also establish an independent social media research foundation focused on teen well-being. Meta will share consented user data with the foundation to support independent research into how social media affects teenagers.
An independent auditor will review Meta’s compliance with the agreement and report to participating jurisdictions annually for five years.
Meta says the goal is to establish consistent protections for teenagers across the social media platforms they use most. The company is now asking TikTok and YouTube to adopt the same rules so parents do not have to manage completely different safety standards across each platform.
(via Meta)
