Meta's $18bn Settlement Triggers New Teen Limits, Parents Say It's Not Enough

Meta’s announcement of sweeping new safety restrictions for young users on its platforms has drawn skepticism from American parents and teenagers, who argue the changes do not go far enough to address the potential harms of social media.

The social media giant agreed to implement the new measures on platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp as part of an $18 billion settlement with 48 US states, the District of Columbia, and three territories. The legal action accused the company of deliberately designing addictive features and underrepresenting the risks to children. Meta did not admit fault in the settlement, which was reached during an ongoing trial.

Under the new rules, Meta will enforce a two-hour daily time limit, hide like counts, disable video autoplay, mute push notifications during school hours, and ban extreme makeup filters. The company also promised upgraded age verification, improved parental controls, and an independent auditor to check compliance. Furthermore, Meta stated it would withhold $5 billion of the settlement unless competitors such as TikTok and YouTube implement similar rules, and offered to lower its daily time limit to one hour if rivals follow suit.

Despite the changes, many parents feel the protections are insufficient to counter the influence of social media. Elizabeth Cardner, a mother of two in Houston, Texas, welcomed the increased awareness but noted the rules would not solve long-term issues. She described feeling stuck between isolating her children from their peers and protecting them from potential online harms.

Teenagers also expressed doubts about the long-term effectiveness of the fixes. Cardner’s 14-year-old daughter, Paige, supported hiding likes and filters, but suggested users would quickly find workarounds through evolving artificial intelligence tools to alter content.

Other parents voiced frustration over the tech industry’s broader approach to child safety. Andria Rose, a mother from near Boston, Massachusetts, called Meta's changes fantastic but incomplete, stating the company is trying to limit the drug without controlling it. Rose added that the financial penalty represents a small fraction of the company's earnings relative to its impact on youth.

Joanie Story, a mother of four on Long Island, criticized Meta’s decision to tie part of its financial payout to competitors' actions, characterizing the approach as fixing a broken system only halfway. While acknowledging the value of platform controls, Story emphasized the severity of exposure to explicit content, drawing from her family's previous negative experiences on non-Meta platforms.

Some advocate groups argue that software limits are an incomplete response. Mark SooHoo, a father from the Chicago area who represents the organization Wait Until 8th, emphasized that parents should instead delay giving children smartphones until the end of eighth grade. SooHoo stated that a communal problem requires a communal solution, urging families to keep children away from the negative impacts of social media altogether rather than relying on tech companies for protection.