Key facts
- Meta has agreed to an $18 billion settlement with US states over concerns about social media's impact on children.
- New platform limits include a two-hour daily time limit, hiding like counts, and muting notifications during school hours.
- The settlement aims to address allegations that Meta deliberately designed addictive platforms and misrepresented risks.
- Parents and teens expressed skepticism, believing the measures are insufficient to protect young users from harm.
- The agreement involves 48 US states, the District of Columbia, and three territories.
Meta has announced new restrictions across its platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and Whatsapp, as part of an $18 billion settlement with US states. The lawsuit alleged that the company deliberately designed its platforms to be addictive and misled the public about the risks to children.
Key changes include a daily two-hour time limit for users under 18, hiding the number of likes on posts, disabling autoplay for videos, muting push notifications during school hours, and banning extreme make-up filters. Meta will also improve its age-verification process and parental controls, and appoint an independent auditor to ensure compliance.
Despite these measures, many parents and teenagers remain skeptical. Elizabeth Cardner, a mother from Houston, Texas, described the limits as a welcome sign of awareness but ultimately insufficient, stating, "It will save a few arguments at home, but it doesn't go far enough." Her 14-year-old daughter, Paige, believes the restrictions will be short-lived due to evolving AI capabilities that can circumvent filters and create "fake content."
Other parents echoed these sentiments. Andria Rose from Massachusetts feels Meta is "trying to limit the drug, but they're not controlling the drug," comparing the settlement to "throwing a couple of dollar bills at a problem." Joanie Story expressed concern over Meta's conditional settlement terms, which tie a portion of the payout to other platforms adopting similar measures, calling it "petty."
Mark SooHoo, a father of three, advocates for parents to delay giving children smartphones until at least the eighth grade, emphasizing that "a communal problem requires a communal solution" rather than relying solely on tech companies.