Meta Settles Teen Safety Lawsuits With New Instagram Limits, but Doubts Remain
Meta has agreed to a settlement with a coalition of US state attorneys general, introducing new restrictions for teen accounts on Instagram and Facebook alongside payments of up to $16.7 billion. Experts warn the changes may fall short because they rely heavily on unreliable age-verification systems.
Meta agreed on Wednesday to settle with a group of US state attorneys general rather than face a federal civil trial in Northern California over allegations that its apps harmed children. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approved the deal the same day. The settlement includes payments of up to $16.7 billion, spread over 10 annual installments—a relatively small sum given Meta's revenue of more than $200 billion last year. Meta's stock rose on the news.
What's Changing
Parents will now be alerted when their teens interact with suspicious accounts or create a secondary, hidden account. New time restrictions will block overnight access and cap daytime use at two hours unless parents allow more. During the school year, notifications will be muted by default from 8 am to 3 pm. Teens will be able to opt into a non-algorithmic, chronological feed and disable video autoplay, with parents able to set these as defaults. Extreme cosmetic-surgery filters will be blocked, and "like" counts will be hidden by default.
Why Experts Remain Concerned
Psychologist Jean Twenge, who testified for the states, called the changes common-sense improvements. However, several experts caution the new limits mainly add "friction" that can be bypassed through secondary accounts or false birth years. Meta has agreed to strengthen age assurance but has offered few specifics. Digital rights groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, warn that expanded age verification could threaten privacy and free-expression rights. Currently, fewer than 1 percent of teens have linked a parent to their account, and it remains unclear how Meta will meaningfully increase that adoption.
Critics also note the settlement does little to change Meta's internal culture—testimony revealed company lawyers once removed troubling data about teens from a leadership presentation. Former employee Arturo Bejar said Instagram use may decrease under the settlement but the platform won't necessarily become safer for young people.
