Meta Announces New Safety Protections Amid Growing Concerns Over Adolescent Mental Health and Social Media Use
In an attempt to address allegations that Instagram and Facebook use has negative effects on teenagers' mental health, Meta has signed an agreement with a bipartisan group of 52 attorneys general from across the United States, its territories, and the District of Columbia. The agreement could cost the tech giant up to approximately $18 billion, part of which will be used to finance the introduction of new protective measures, strengthen parental supervision, and promote more intentional social media use among teenagers. Meta has not admitted wrongdoing.
Before getting into the agreement details, it is important to note that the allegations made by the plaintiffs come amid a growing body of research examining the relationship between social media use and adolescent mental health. Studies have identified several potential risks associated with social media use, including cyberbullying, exposure to self-harm content, junk food advertising, reduced general well-being, unrealistic beauty standards, doomscrolling, and compulsive use. Researchers and health experts have also called for intervention studies to identify preventive strategies, promote digital literacy, identify platform-specific risk factors, strengthen safety frameworks, and encourage intentional use among young people. They have also emphasized the need for greater transparency from social networking companies when examining the potential effects of social media use on mental health.
Considering that teens can switch across multiple apps, Meta has also called on YouTube and TikTok to join the safety framework for online social communities. The states and jurisdictions involved in the agreement will receive 70% (about $12.7 billion) of the agreed payment in annual instalments over a period of ten years. The remaining 30% (about $5.3 billion) is conditional and will be paid if YouTube and TikTok agree to implement the specified safeguards and each make a matching payment. Half of the conditional amount is tied to YouTube and the other half to TikTok.
Under this multi-state agreement, a number of new measures have been approved that are intended to encourage healthier and more intentional social media use among young users. To begin with, under-18 accounts will have a default two-hour daily limit, which can only be disabled with parental permission. The feature also accounts for multiple accounts by calculating cumulative time spent across them where they are detected.
Nighttime restrictions are also in place; teen accounts will be blocked from midnight until 6 a.m. During school hours, app notifications will be muted, excluding direct messages and account safety or security alerts. As another effort to encourage intentional use of Instagram and Facebook, teenagers will receive regular screen prompts reminding them about continuous screen time and daily limits. The new standards will also give teens the option to use a non-personalized feed and allow parents greater control over their children's exposure on these platforms.
Teenagers will have greater control over autoplay settings and will not be able to see like and reaction counts on content. Additionally, they will no longer have access to cosmetic surgery and extreme beauty filters.
Using new technology to identify teen accounts with false age information and measures involving parental approval for younger users are also part of the agreement. Another measure intended to support teen safety is restricting age-inappropriate posts and videos. Teens will also receive greater protection against spam accounts and potentially suspicious users, alongside private account protections.
Meta has also agreed to streamline the reporting of suspicious and potentially harmful content. These measures are intended to limit teens' exposure to harmful experiences while also helping Meta assess how frequently teens encounter such experiences and improve its safety technology.
In addition to certain default settings, Meta has also incorporated parental supervision settings through which parents may receive notifications about activity such as the addition of another account or interaction with a potentially suspicious user. Such settings also include keeping parents informed about attempts to change or circumvent safety measures.
The majority of the new protective measures introduced by Meta must remain in effect for a ten-year period. However, the two-hour daily time limit and midnight-to-6 a.m. nighttime restrictions initially carry five-year commitments. These standards will be extended and strengthened if other major industry players, including YouTube and TikTok, agree to adopt specified safety provisions. Meta has also agreed to use research and expert insights to improve its platforms. In that context, the agreement also provides for an independent social media research foundation. The foundation will use consented data made available through Meta to conduct research into ways to better protect young users online.