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Meta recently agreed to a settlement worth roughly $18 billion, announcing that it will go toward funding youth online safety initiatives and other priorities decided by participating states, and a bipartisan group of 52 attorneys general across US states, territories, and the District of Columbia. Apart from the changes that will be coming to both Instagram and Facebook, the agreement will also establish an independent social media research foundation. The Mark Zuckerberg-led company will also share consented user data with the foundation to advance independent research into teen well-being and grow our collective understanding of how to best support teens online.
The first involves YouTube and TikTok bringing in a one-hour daily usage limit, a night mode feature, and stronger age verification tools.
Meta also laid out a new set of protections and parental controls that will kick in automatically for users under 18 on both Instagram and Facebook, across every US state and territory that’s part of the settlement. Meta says it is investing in more advanced technology to proactively catch and remove accounts likely belonging to users under 13. The company is also improving its systems for identifying accounts that may belong to 13-to-17-year-olds, so they get placed into teen-appropriate experiences, even if the account lists an adult birthdate.
Most of these changes are required to stay in place for a full decade. Here is a breakdown of what’s changing: Control over the algorithmic feed: Teens will have the option to switch to a non-algorithmic feed by default, one that skips personalised recommendations entirely. Meta will periodically remind them that this option exists, and parents will also be able to set this as the required default experience for their teen. Restrictions on filters: Building on its existing ban on cosmetic surgery filters for teens, Meta will now also block access to extreme makeup filters. Stronger age verification: One of the biggest changes is stricter age verification.
