Meta settles $18B teen lawsuit, adds default time limits and night mode on Instagram

Meta settled an $18B lawsuit with US states over allegations that Instagram was deliberately made addictive to teenagers. As part of the settlement, Meta will introduce default protections for users under 18 on both Instagram and Facebook. These protections include a two-hour daily time limit that is cumulative across the two apps and can only be turned off with parental permission. Additional measures are a night-time block from midnight to 6 am, a school-hour notification mute from 8 am to 3 pm, regular usage prompts, optional non-algorithmic feeds, autoplay control, hidden likes, disabled extreme makeup filters, and strengthened age-assurance technology.

Engineers must build backend systems that sum usage time from Instagram and Facebook for each under-18 account and enforce the limit unless a parent grants override. They need to create time-based gateways that block app access during the midnight-to-6 am window and mute notifications between 8 am and 3 pm. UI changes are required to offer toggles for non-algorithmic feed, autoplay, and like visibility, and to hide extreme makeup filters by default. Integration with app stores is needed to receive verified age signals so that the age-assurance technology can place accounts in the appropriate teen experience.

The protections rely on accurate age information; if a teen supplies an adult birthday, the new age-assurance tech must still identify them as a minor. If app stores do not provide verified age data, the placement of accounts into teen-focused experiences may fail. Teens who maintain multiple accounts could still accumulate usage, although the system counts time across apps and attempts to detect multiple accounts. Meta has committed to continually improve its age-assurance, content-restriction, and notification systems to keep the protections effective over time.