Meta Agrees to 2-Hour Daily Instagram and Facebook Limit for Teens in $18 Billion US Settlement

Meta will introduce stricter Instagram and Facebook controls for teenagers under an $18 billion settlement, including daily usage limits, overnight restrictions, safer feeds and stronger parental controls.

Meta Agrees to Stricter Teen Safety Rules

Meta has agreed to introduce sweeping new safety and usage restrictions for teenagers on Instagram and Facebook as part of a reported $18 billion settlement with 29 US states.

The proposed measures are designed to reduce excessive social media use and provide parents with greater control over how teenagers interact with Meta's platforms.

The agreement still requires court approval. If implemented, several of the measures are expected to remain in place for the next decade.

Teens to Face Two-Hour Daily Usage Limit

One of the biggest changes will be a two-hour daily usage limit for teenagers across Facebook and Instagram. The limit will apply to both platforms collectively, rather than providing teenagers with two hours on each individual app.

Once the two-hour allowance is reached, access to the platforms will be restricted. Parents will be able to approve additional usage when necessary.

Meta will also use its systems to identify attempts by teenagers to bypass the restriction by creating or using multiple accounts.

Usage Limit Designed to Reduce Excessive Scrolling

The proposed limit is intended to encourage teenagers to spend less time on social media.

Rather than treating Facebook and Instagram separately, Meta's combined limit would prevent users from simply moving from one platform to the other after reaching their daily allowance.

The approach could represent a significant change in how Meta manages teen engagement across its services.

Instagram and Facebook to Get Overnight Access Restrictions

Meta also plans to introduce stronger restrictions on nighttime usage. Under the proposed Night Mode, teenagers would be prevented from accessing Facebook and Instagram between midnight and 6am.

The measure goes beyond simply silencing notifications. During the restricted period, teenagers would not be able to open or use the apps.

Meta also plans to introduce regular usage reminders, with teenagers receiving a notification after every 15 minutes of continuous activity encouraging them to take a break.

Parents Can Choose Non-Personalised Feeds

The settlement would give parents more control over the content teenagers see. Parents could choose to disable personalised recommendations, meaning the feed would no longer depend heavily on Meta's algorithms.

Instead, teenagers could receive a more generalised content feed rather than a stream of individually recommended posts and videos.

The changes are intended to give families greater control over the type of content presented to young users.

Autoplay Could Also Be Disabled

Parents and teenagers would also have the option to turn off autoplay. With the feature disabled, users would need to manually tap or swipe to view additional content rather than having videos automatically begin playing.

This could help reduce passive and continuous consumption of content.

School-Hour Notifications to Be Restricted

Meta is also planning special notification controls during school hours. Between approximately 8am and 3pm, most push notifications would be silenced for teenage users.

Certain important notifications, such as security alerts and direct messages, could still be allowed. The aim is to reduce distractions during school hours while ensuring that essential communications remain accessible.

Cosmetic Filters and Reaction Counts Face Restrictions

The proposed changes also include tighter controls on certain visual effects. Meta plans to expand restrictions on extreme cosmetic filters, which can significantly alter a person's appearance.

In addition, teenagers would generally not see like and reaction counts on posts by default. Reducing the visibility of engagement numbers could potentially reduce some of the social pressure associated with collecting likes and reactions.

Meta Calls on TikTok and YouTube to Follow

Meta is also urging competing platforms to introduce comparable protections for teenagers. The company has called on TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar safeguards.

According to the proposed settlement structure described in the report, a significant portion of the financial payout could depend on comparable action by competing platforms.

The approach would potentially extend the impact of the agreement beyond Meta's own services and encourage broader industry-wide changes.

Meta Strengthens Teen Age Verification

Another important part of the proposed changes involves identifying users who are actually teenagers. Meta plans to strengthen its technology for detecting underage users who attempt to bypass age restrictions by entering false dates of birth.

The company is also expected to maintain existing protections designed to prevent inappropriate interactions between adults and teenagers.

Improving age detection could help Meta apply its safety features to the users they are intended to protect.

A Major Shift in Social Media Safety

If approved and implemented, the settlement could represent one of the most significant changes to teen social media policies in the United States.

The combination of usage limits, nighttime restrictions, parental controls, non-personalised feeds and stronger age verification would significantly change the way teenagers use Facebook and Instagram.

The agreement could also put additional pressure on other social media companies to adopt similar measures.

Court Approval Still Required

Although Meta has agreed to the proposed measures, the settlement is not yet the final word. The agreement must receive court approval before the restrictions can formally take effect under the settlement.

If approved, the measures would establish long-term requirements for Meta's handling of teenage accounts.

Conclusion

Meta's proposed $18 billion settlement could bring major changes to how teenagers use Instagram and Facebook in the US. A combined two-hour daily limit, midnight-to-6am access block, non-personalised feeds, school-hour notification restrictions and stronger age verification would significantly strengthen parental and teen safety controls. The settlement could also influence TikTok, YouTube and the wider social media industry if similar protections are adopted.