This morning, a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys general announced a landmark settlement requiring Meta to pay at least $12.1 billion — and up to $17.1 billion — and to make court-enforceable changes to Instagram and Facebook to protect teens. It is the largest consumer protection settlement in history outside Big Tobacco. You can read the attorneys general’s announcement and the full 130-page settlement agreement.
Attorneys General Rob Bonta, Jennifer Davenport, Phil Weiser, and Russell Coleman took Meta to trial, and in the second week of testimony, Meta agreed to change. Behind them stood attorneys general from across the political map, Democrats like Illinois’ Kwame Raoul and Republicans like Kentucky’s Coleman and Indiana’s Todd Rokita, united on a truth every parent knows: protecting children on social media is not a partisan issue. Every family in America owes them gratitude.
At the Organization for Social Media Safety, we spent today reading the full settlement agreement so you don’t have to. Our assessment is simple: this settlement makes children safer. But it does not make them safe. Not because the attorneys general fell short; they extracted more from a social media platform than anyone ever has, and what they accomplished is meaningful. But children remain at risk because of the limitations of what any single settlement with a single company can reach, and because of the nature of social media itself. Here is what will change, and what requires continued work:
A midnight-to-6 a.m. lockout
Teen accounts will be blocked overnight by default, and only a parent can lift it. This is a good start, and we credit the attorneys general for recognizing the impact of social media on a teen’s sleep. But midnight is still late for a developing brain; messaging stays open all night, and nothing stops a teen from opening another platform like TikTok or Snapchat at 12:01 am.
A two-hour daily limit across Meta’s apps
A meaningful first: a hard default cap. But teens average nearly five hours a day on social media across all platforms, and research links three or more hours daily to roughly double the risk of adverse mental health outcomes. Time spent messaging and watching longer videos doesn’t count toward the cap, and hours on other platforms do not either.
No notifications during school hours
From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on school days, push notifications go quiet by default — though message notifications continue. A smart change, and one whose real-world impact we’ll be watching closely.
Hidden like counts and a ban on cosmetic-procedure filters
These design features were built to fuel social comparison in teens, especially girls. But the ban reaches only filters that mimic cosmetic procedures — many other dangerous, appearance-distorting filters remain, and new ones evolve constantly. A real step, not a complete one, which is why independent testing, not just Meta’s own, must verify what’s actually reaching children.
A non-addictive feed — as an option
Teens can choose a chronological feed of only accounts they follow, and Meta must offer it regularly. But this change reaches the teens least at risk, the ones motivated to seek it out. The teens who most need a non-addictive feed are the ones the addictive feed has already captured. That’s why we co-sponsored AB 1709 in California to make this protection mandatory for every child under 16, on every platform.
New parental alerts
Parents and caregivers will be alerted when a teen first messages an adult, and when a teen repeatedly searches terms related to suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders. These matter. But read the fine print: they go only to families enrolled in Meta’s own parental supervision program, cover only Meta’s apps, and reach only searches: not posts, not messages, not what a child views. Comprehensive, life-saving parental alerts exist today through independent third-party safety software. That’s what Sammy’s Law (H.R. 2657) would guarantee families on every major platform, and why Congress must pass it this year. When a child in a life-threatening crisis shows warning signs, a parent should know every time.
Age assurance
Every protection above depends on knowing who’s actually a teen. The settlement sets real accuracy targets for age detection: genuine progress. Making age assurance work industry-wide, and keeping it working, is exactly why AB 1709 in California creates the e-Safety Advisory Commission to get it right.
What changes on your child’s phone tonight? Nothing yet.
The settlement awaits court approval and after that, most changes take six months to arrive, with age assurance taking up to a year. Which brings us to the point: these changes will help. They will not make children safe on social media. That work remains where it has always been: in the legislatures, the courts, and at home and in school.
For any intervention, the only measure that ultimately matters is whether harm to children actually declines, and measuring that precisely is the work of our research partnership with the UCLA School of Education.
What you can do this week
If your school doesn’t yet have a social media safety program, this is the week to start. Parents: share this page with your principal. School and district leaders: see how the Organization for Social Media Safety works with hundreds of schools nationwide.
Safer, not safe. We keep going.
Marc Berkman serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Organization for Social Media Safety. An attorney and former policy leader at the National Center for Youth Law, he co-sponsored California’s AB 1709 and has testified before the Legislature on social media safety.
This analysis will be updated as the settlement moves through court approval and implementation. Last updated: August 26, 2026.