Meta Platforms agreed to a settlement with state attorneys general resolving claims that its platforms harmed children. The agreement involves 47 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, requiring Meta to pay a minimum of $11.7 billion over a decade.

Users under 18 will be blocked from most parts of Instagram and Facebook, including Feed, Stories, Explore, and Reels, between midnight and 6 a.m. Direct messaging remains available for users under 18 during this overnight block. Notifications will be automatically muted for teen users from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. with exceptions for direct messages and safety alerts.

Meta will prompt teens after every 15 minutes of continuous screen time, with additional reminders at 60 and 90 minutes of combined daily usage. Teens will have the option to make a non-personalized feed their default, and parents can require this setting. Teens can also disable autoplay, and parents can require this setting as well.

Like and reaction counts will be hidden by default for teen users on their own posts and others' posts. Meta will block teen users from accessing cosmetic surgery filters and extreme makeup filters. The company agreed to strengthen technology to identify accounts belonging to children under 13 and users aged 13 to 17 who entered an adult birthday.

Meta will use its own and third-party tools for age verification, subject to regular outside audits and specific goals for false positive rates. If a user is identified as under 13 and removed, Meta will check the ages of their friends. Meta will expand parental supervision tools, including notifications when a teen links a secondary account or attempts to change protective settings.

The majority of the new requirements are expected to remain in place for 10 years. Meta has six months to implement the changes, and an independent auditor will review the company's implementation of the required changes. Meta denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

Meta agreed to pay an additional $5 billion if TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat settle state claims on similar terms. C.J. Mahoney, Meta’s chief legal officer, addressed the scope of the agreement. "Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution." Mahoney said.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta supported the outcome. "The settlement includes a real, durable enforcement mechanism," Bonta stated. Minnesota was one of the states that brought suit against Meta in 2023.

Critics expressed concerns about the effectiveness of the measures. Josh Golin, executive director of the online safety nonprofit Fairplay, noted missing elements. "We are disappointed that the settlement does not turn off by default recommendation algorithms that connect kids to predators and send young people down dangerous rabbit holes," Golin said.

Arturo Béjar, a former Meta engineering director, criticized the framework. "The agreement has a big problem in that it allows Meta to define harm," Béjar said. He compared the time limits to other regulated substances. "It’s one thing to say, ‘Yeah, you only get like two hours of alcohol or two hours of cigarettes a day,’ but it’s still as bad for you because of what’s getting delivered," Béjar said.

Anne Collier, founder and executive director of The Net Safety Collaborative, noted the limitations of platform-specific rules. "Children’s digital experience ebbs and flows constantly, and putting restrictions on one platform is not going to make them safe," Collier said. She added that bad actors would persist. "There will always be bad actors moving in dark places where kids can go, unfortunately," Collier said.

Mimi Ito, a cultural anthropologist and learning scientist at the University of California, Irvine, questioned the technical foundation. "All these commitments to make the platform better hinge on age verification," Ito said. She predicted evasion. "Teens will find a way around it," Ito said.

Yaël Eisenstat, director of policy and impact for the Cybersafety Research Center, urged caution in assessing the deal. "It is a little premature, unfortunately, to tell if exactly all the changes we want to see are going to happen," Eisenstat said.

Why It Matters

The $11.7 billion minimum payment represents an increase from previous penalties, such as the $459 million settlement Meta previously faced related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. That earlier case involved the improper sharing of user data with third parties. The current settlement establishes a long-term enforcement regime spanning a decade, with financial contingencies tied to competitors like TikTok and YouTube adopting similar terms.

The agreement introduces structural changes to how teens interact with social media, including default privacy settings and time limits. However, observers note that these measures rely heavily on accurate age verification and do not address algorithmic recommendations or content quality. The settlement leaves open questions about how Meta will enforce cumulative limits across multiple accounts and what metrics auditors will use to evaluate false positive rates in age detection.

Timeline

In 2023, Minnesota was one of the states that brought suit against Meta. On August 26, 2026, the settlement required Meta to implement a two-hour daily time limit for users under 18 across Instagram and Facebook. Also on August 26, 2026, users under 18 were set to be blocked from most parts of Instagram and Facebook, including Feed, Stories, Explore, and Reels, between midnight and 6 a.m.

On August 26, 2026, Josh Golin said, "We are disappointed that the settlement does not turn off by default recommendation algorithms that connect kids to predators and send young people down dangerous rabbit holes." On the same date, Arturo Béjar said, "The agreement has a big problem in that it allows Meta to define harm." Also on August 26, 2026, Béjar said, "It’s one thing to say, ‘Yeah, you only get like two hours of alcohol or two hours of cigarettes a day,’ but it’s still as bad for you because of what’s getting delivered." On August 26, 2026, Yaël Eisenstat said, "It is a little premature, unfortunately, to tell if exactly all the changes we want to see are going to happen." On August 26, 2026, California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated that the settlement includes a real, durable enforcement mechanism.

What's New

Later reporting confirmed that users under 18 will be blocked from most parts of Instagram and Facebook, including Feed, Stories, Explore, and Reels, between midnight and 6 a.m. Additional details emerged regarding reactions from advocates. Golin said, "We are disappointed that the settlement does not turn off by default recommendation algorithms that connect kids to predators and send young people down dangerous rabbit holes." Contextual background noted that Meta Platforms previously faced a $459 million settlement related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which involved the improper sharing of user data with third parties.

Further clarification indicated that the minimum payment to U.S. states and territories under the settlement is $11.7 billion over 10 years, with an additional $5 billion contingent on other platforms like TikTok and YouTube adopting similar terms. Arturo Béjar said, "The agreement has a big problem in that it allows Meta to define harm." Béjar also said, "It’s one thing to say, ‘Yeah, you only get like two hours of alcohol or two hours of cigarettes a day,’ but it’s still as bad for you because of what’s getting delivered."