Meta's Teen Safety Deal Brings Changes but Critics Want More

Meta agreed to a settlement with state attorneys general, paying up to $16.7 billion and introducing new features like forced time limits and parental alerts for teens. Child safety groups welcome the changes but worry about the burden on parents and the use of age verification. Privacy advocates also fear the measures will increase surveillance.

The settlement was approved by US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, ending a federal civil trial that had been underway in Northern California. Meta will pay the $16.7 billion in annual installments across a decade, a sum representing a small fraction of the company's yearly revenue, which exceeded $200 billion last year. The agreement emerged from a lawsuit brought by state attorneys general rather than proceeding through a lengthy trial and possible appeals process.

New safeguards include overnight access blocks, a two-hour daily scrolling limit, and muted notifications during school hours. Parents gain visibility into teens' second accounts and suspicious message exchanges. The changes also remove extreme makeover filters and hide like counts by default, while offering a chronological feed option that parents can set as mandatory. Child safety advocates and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have raised concerns about the burden on caregivers and the surveillance implications of age-verification measures.