Meta agreed Wednesday to limit daily use of Facebook and Instagram to two hours for users under 18 in the United States as part of a $16 billion settlement with state attorneys general. The restriction, described as a “hard limit” by officials, aims to address allegations that the platforms were intentionally addictive to teens and will require parental involvement to override.
Meta will track usage across multiple accounts linked to the same teen to prevent circumvention by switching profiles, officials said. The restriction is described as a “hard limit,” meaning it is enabled by default and cannot be disabled by the teen without explicit parental permission.
The two-hour daily limit applies to all Facebook and Instagram users under 18 within the United States, combining time spent across both platforms, according to court documents and statements from state attorneys general involved in the settlement.
In addition to the daily cap, the settlement requires Meta to implement a default overnight block from midnight to 6 a.m. for teen users, effectively restricting access to most app features during those hours. Messaging functions, however, are exempt from both the daily limit and overnight curfew, allowing teens to send and receive direct messages at any time, court filings show. The overnight block can only be adjusted with parental consent, according to state officials.
The settlement also includes a “School Mode” that silences most notifications during typical school hours, generally from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, to reduce distractions, sources confirmed. During school hours, teens will have limited access to Facebook and Instagram features, though basic functionality remains available within the daily time allowance. These notification controls form part of a broader suite of teen-safety features, which also include improvements in age verification and hiding “like” counts to mitigate social-comparison pressures, according to Meta and state releases.
Meta has agreed to roll out these changes within one year of the settlement’s approval, with some provisions expected to take effect within six months in participating states and territories. The settlement, announced Wednesday, August 26, 2026, involves coordination with roughly 29 to 50 U.S. states and territories and awaits approval by a federal judge in Oakland, California. Once approved, the restrictions and behavioral changes will remain in place for between five and ten years, depending on the specific provision, officials said.
The agreement is valued at approximately $16 billion over a decade, combining direct payments and mandated platform changes designed to address allegations that Meta’s products were intentionally addictive to teens. Meta has denied wrongdoing but committed to the terms as part of the settlement, according to company statements and court records.
The settlement includes conditional provisions that would further tighten restrictions if rival platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat adopt similar time-limit commitments. Under those circumstances, Meta would reduce the teen daily limit from two hours to one hour per day per app, with a maximum of two hours total across all participating platforms. The overnight block would also extend from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., lengthening the curfew window. These conditions aim to encourage industry-wide standards, according to state attorneys general.
To enforce the time limits, Meta will introduce forced pauses and prompts within the apps, including alerts every 15 minutes of continuous use and additional warnings at 60 and 90 minutes. Once the two-hour limit is reached, teens will be blocked from further use of the main app experiences until the next day unless a parent authorizes additional time, court documents show. The daily allowance resets at midnight.
The settlement also mandates strengthened age estimation mechanisms to prevent children under 13 from accessing Meta’s platforms and to ensure teens are assigned to age-appropriate accounts before time limits and other safeguards apply. Compliance with the settlement will be monitored by state attorneys general and the court, which retain authority to review Meta’s adherence and require ongoing enforcement of the teen-safety measures for the agreed duration.
Certain exceptions to the time limit include direct messaging and long-form content, such as extended videos, which do not count toward the daily cap, according to court filings and official statements. The specifics of these exemptions are detailed in state attorney general releases and court documents but are not fully public.
The settlement’s implementation timeline anticipates that the new restrictions and features will be operational within the next year in participating jurisdictions, with some elements potentially launching within six months. The court’s approval is the final step before these measures become enforceable.
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