Meta agrees to sweeping changes to restrict kids’ access to its apps as part of settlement with states

Under the terms of its $18 billion settlement to resolve claims brought by 29 U.S. states over children’s safety, Meta on Wednesday agreed to sweeping changes designed to restrict minors’ access to Instagram and Facebook. The changes include a daily time limit, a restrictive “Night Mode,” autoplay controls, and more.

The social media giant says the new protections will automatically apply to users under 18 on Instagram and Facebook in participating U.S. states and territories, pending judicial approval. That the majority of these controls are required to remain in place for 10 years.

One of the most notable changes is that Meta plans to implement a daily two-hour time limit for teenagers on its platform. The limit can only be disabled with parental permission, and once the limit is reached, teens will be locked out of Facebook and Instagram.

Meta says the limit will be cumulative across Facebook and Instagram, which means that time spent on both apps will count toward the two-hour total. The limit will also be applied if Meta detects someone is using multiple accounts.

The company also said kids will be able to choose a non-algorithmic feed that isn’t personalized by its recommendation systems as their default. Currently, users have been able to temporarily see a chronological feed on Instagram and Facebook, but can’t set it as their default feed. Instead, the app pops up the algorithmic feeds each time you open the app. Now, parents and guardians can set their teenaged kids’ default experience to a non-personalized feed.

Meta said it will also introduce a default “Night Mode” block on its apps between midnight and 6 a.m. that would prevent underage users from accessing, posting or viewing any part of its platforms. A Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch that while the company already mutes notifications for teens at night, the new setting will block them altogether after midnight.

Teenagers will also receive prompts after every 15 minutes of continuous usage on Facebook or Instagram. The new prompts will accompany the current prompts that teens see when their total daily usage hits 60 minutes.

Meta will also block underage users from using extreme makeup filters, a move that expands upon its existing restrictions that prevent them from using cosmetic surgery filters.

Additionally, the company will mute notifications by default during school timings, which it is setting as between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. During those hours, teens won’t receive push notifications, except for DMs and alerts related to account security or safety.

Another new setting will allow parents and teens to turn off autoplay. Meta says they will need to take a “deliberate action,” such as tapping or swiping, to see more content.

Like and reaction counts on posts will also be hidden for underage users by default, whether the posts are theirs or someone else’s.