Meta $18B settlement requires teen safeguards on Instagram, FB

Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion and to redesign parts of Instagram and Facebook in the United States to settle a lawsuit brought by dozens of states. The agreement requires default protections for accounts of users under 18, including a two-hour daily usage limit, a Night Mode that blocks access from midnight to 6 a.m., and a School Mode that mutes notifications between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The safeguards will be applied automatically to teenage accounts in the US. Teenagers can disable the two-hour limit only with parental permission. Night Mode will prevent posting and viewing in Feed, Stories, Explore and Reels during restricted hours. School Mode will still allow direct messages and security or safety alerts to come through.

Beyond time limits, Meta must add controls over algorithmic feeds and autoplay, offer options to hide like counts and disable cosmetic surgery and extreme makeup filters for teenage users. The company must demonstrate that those features can be implemented without harming the broader user experience.

Announced Wednesday, the settlement ends a high-profile trial in California. Officials described it as the largest state consumer-protection agreement since tobacco-era settlements. The payment is larger than recent major tech settlements, including Meta’s $1.4 billion agreement in 2024, and it is the biggest single-company deal secured by the New York attorney general’s office.

Legal experts say the agreement does not create binding judicial precedent but will influence future litigation. Daryl Lim, a law professor at Penn State Dickinson Law, described the deal as practical evidence that such cases can survive major legal challenges and expose platforms to substantial financial risk.

The litigation included internal documents and testimony about how often users encountered bullying, self-harm and violent content. Former Meta engineer Arturo Béjar testified that internal studies recorded those encounters and that some results were not released publicly, while other metrics emphasized violations of content policies.

Advocates and policy specialists said the discovery could aid researchers and lawmakers. Jim Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media, called the outcome an “enormous momentum shift” in public assessment of social media. Isabel Sunderland, a technology policy lead at Issue One, said the documents will help lawmakers draft stronger policy.

Officials in Australia and the Philippines welcomed Meta’s US changes and urged broader protections for young users. South Korea’s media regulator suggested several measures should be applied beyond single markets. Those responses could increase pressure on Meta to consider standardizing protections as national rules multiply.

The settlement removes the immediate threat of a major trial for Meta but requires operational changes and a large financial payment. Meta must begin implementing the new defaults for US teenage accounts while regulators, lawmakers and researchers continue to review discovery from the cases.