Social media giant Meta has agreed to introduce teen safety measures such as two-hour daily limit on Facebook and Instagram, age-verifying measures and disabling push notifications during school hours and overnight blocks from midnight till 6 a.m.
This comes as part of the Mark-Zuckerberg led firm's agreement to pay around $16.68 billion to settle claims of 29 US states that alleged the company of designing Instagram and Facebook to encourage compulsive use among children, misleading safety measures and improperly collecting data from underage users, court filings show.
The settlement brought an end to one of the most closely watched legal issues on the impact of social media on children and teenagers.
Based on this agreement, Meta is planning to introduce the proposed daily usage limits and nighttime access to teenage users. it will boost age-verification measures with the aim to prevent children from accessing social media platforms or age-restricted content.
In addition to these proposals, the company will be required to develop additional tools, which will help parents and guardians monitor and protect children online.
Notably, Meta has denied the allegations and admitted no liability as part of the agreement. The court filing states that Meta “denies the allegations against it and that it has any liability to the Plaintiffs.”
The trial included allegations by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, which claimed that Meta violated state consumer-protection laws by intentionally designing its platforms in ways that promoted addictive use among teenagers and children.
They also alleged that Meta of violated the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting personal information from children without notifying or obtaining consent from their parents.
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