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How Facebook and Instagram will change after Meta's $18B settlement - and where the money is going
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Meta has announced that it agreed to a settlement in a landmark child safety lawsuit, and sweeping changes are coming to Facebook and Instagram as a result -- plus $18 billion in funding for online safety initiatives, youth mental health, and other programs.
The lawsuit, which alleges the tech company purposefully designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to minors, misled the public about how safe the platforms were, and illegally harvested private data from teen users, was brought by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from nearly every US state.
Also: How to delete Facebook, Messenger, or Instagram - if you want Meta out of your life
Meta maintains it did nothing wrong but is settling the case to avoid legal proceedings. This settlement involves large-scale changes to the company's social media platforms (all designed with young users' mental health and online safety in mind) and a significant financial penalty.
Here's a look at what's going to be different and where that money is going.
Meta will now enforce a hard limit of two hours a day for users under 18 -- across both Facebook and Instagram combined and across multiple accounts. This setting is on by default, but parents can override it.
Teen accounts will not be able to access Meta apps at all between midnight and 6 a.m., regardless of how much time teens have otherwise spent on the platforms. This setting can only be turned off by a parent.
Also: Meta's new AI tool lets others use your Instagram posts for image generation - how to opt out
By default, teens will not see the number of likes and reactions on their own posts or posts from others.