The story so far: On August 26, 2026, Meta agreed to an approximately $18 billion settlement with dozens of U.S. states in annual instalments over 10 years, and announced stricter controls in its apps for teen users. The settlement is the culmination of a lawsuit brought by California and 28 other U.S. states alleging that Facebook and Instagram are harmful for children and that they illegally collect personal data. While several parents and child health advocates welcomed the new child protection controls, enforcing them will be a lot more challenging.
What child protections is Meta rolling out?
The social media giant is both rolling out new features and building on existing features designed to create a safer and less addictive experience for Facebook and Instagram users under 18.
These measures are set to automatically apply in participating U.S. states and territories. 52 attorneys general covering U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia have joined the agreement.
Arguably, the biggest win for parents and the biggest concession by Meta is a default two-hour daily time limit across Facebook and Instagram. Teens can only turn this off with a parent’s permission.
Furthermore, a ‘Night Mode’ will block app users between 12 AM and 6 AM, so teens cannot post or view their Feed, Stories, Reels, or the Explore section. Similarly, the School Mode between 8 AM and 3 PM will mute notifications by default.
However, these limits do not apply to direct messages (DMs).
Teens are set to receive multiple prompts after every 15 minutes of continuous screen time on Facebook/Instagram, apart from prompts that come after their total daily usage reaches 60 minutes and 90 minutes.
To directly address addictive video features, Meta is giving teens (and their parents) the ability to choose a non-algorithmic feed as their default, as well as the ability to turn off Autoplay.
As for steps to combat unhealthy comparisons and anxiety over appearances and popularity, teen users will no longer see the number of likes and reactions on posts by default. Meta is also expanding its policy to block teens from using “extreme makeup filters,” adding to a previous block against cosmetic surgery filters for teens.
Meta reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening existing controls in order to catch underage account users, as well as teens falsely entering adult birthdays. The company claimed it will continue placing teens into private accounts on Instagram and activating private default settings on Facebook, apart from restricting “potentially suspicious adults” from reaching out to them.
Meta also said it would encourage parents to set up its supervision tools, and give them new controls and insights.
Can these safety controls be effectively enforced?
This is the crux of the matter. Safety controls for teens work only as well as the technology that verifies users’ ages and detects rule-breakers.
Take Australia, for example; the country was the first to enforce a strict blanket ban on social media for children under 16. While many parents lauded the idea and Meta reported this month that it removed over 750,000 accounts that it suspected were held by under-16s, a study by the University of Newcastle there reported that the ban did not appear to have significantly impacted under-16s who were using social media.
As other platforms and administrations explore age restrictions, critics have pointed out how easily children can fake their ages — even in video selfies and live camera tests. What’s more, these data collection tactics raise additional questions about how children’s private information is being harvested.
In its settlement announcement, Meta pointed out that all platforms — and not just its apps — should have teen safety measures in place to prevent children from moving to less restricted apps. So as to not be held back in isolation, Meta called on rival social media apps YouTube and TikTok to adopt the “new standard.”
Meta stated that around 30% of its settlement, or $5.3 billion, would be released only after rival apps YouTube and TikTok implement similar controls and pay a stipulated amount of money. To sweeten the deal, Meta said that if industry peers signed the agreement, it would further reduce the daily limit to one hour per app and expand night mode limits. In other words, this increases the incentive for U.S. regulators to also bring Meta’s rivals in line with the new policies.
Separately, the social media giant said it supported laws requiring app stores to verify the users’ age and obtain parental approval before teens can download an app. This shifts the responsibility of age verification to companies such as Apple and Google.
How can parents elsewhere make Facebook and Instagram less addictive?
Even without Meta’s new controls, parents and educators can work with children to fight social media addiction. Most smartphones come with built-in parental controls that allow adults to set time limits for individual apps, as well as curtail overall device use.
Furthermore, many of Meta’s existing safety controls — such as Teen Accounts on Instagram — can be used by children across borders who enter their ages correctly.
For more advanced settings, adults can research and download parental control apps that allow them to set up different usage limits for multiple children and monitor their activity remotely. Some apps allow parents to remotely lock devices and apps during sleeping hours and/or school hours.
Meanwhile, teachers can communicate with their students via email, or send alerts through non-addictive digital forums during daytime hours. Students should be strongly discouraged from conducting school assignments or group projects via social media apps.
Enabling parental controls for teen social media users is a constantly evolving challenge. After all, these young internet and AI-native users are often more tech-savvy than the very adults trying to restrict their time online
Published – August 28, 2026 11:08 am IST