{"id":7900,"date":"2026-08-28T06:39:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T06:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7900"},"modified":"2026-08-28T06:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T06:39:22","slug":"facebook-and-instagram-must-put-kids-on-a-clock-under-landmark-17-billion-meta-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7900","title":{"rendered":"Facebook and Instagram must put kids on a clock under landmark $17 billion Meta deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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California and dozens of other states won sweeping new restrictions on how Facebook and Instagram treat children Wednesday, including daily time limits, overnight lockouts and stronger parental controls, along with as much as $17 billion from Meta.<\/p>\n

Read more Keion White makes immediate impact in 49ers\u2019 preseason finale at Raiders<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approved the agreement in Oakland, abruptly ending a closely watched trial over allegations that Meta deliberately hooked children on its platforms and concealed the resulting harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is transformative,\u201d California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Wednesday. \u201cThis is a major step forward in the ongoing quest and journey to make sure that our children are safe everywhere, including online.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta denied the lawsuit\u2019s allegations and admitted no wrongdoing. In a statement Wednesday, the company called on its rivals to adopt similar protections, saying, \u201cWe cannot do it alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta will pay $12 billion over 10 years, with that amount rising to $17 billion if other major social media companies agree to similar protections. California would receive $1.5 billion to $2.2 billion to address harms to children from social media, Bonta said.<\/p>\n

Bonta called the payment \u201csecondary\u201d to the changes Meta agreed to make, which he described as \u201cthe heart and core of this settlement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deal covers 52 jurisdictions, including states, territories and the District of Columbia. Some joined the agreement despite not participating in the lawsuit that went to trial in Oakland.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, children under 18 will face a combined two-hour daily limit on Facebook and Instagram, along with an overnight blackout from midnight to 6 a.m. Parents could lift either restriction. If other social media platforms agree to similar changes, the daily limit would drop to one hour and the overnight block would expand from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.<\/p>\n

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Messaging is exempt from the restrictions, and time spent watching long-form videos would not count against the daily limit.<\/p>\n

Despite Bonta\u2019s assertion Wednesday that the states made no compromises, the agreement drops a key demand that children be barred from using Facebook and Instagram at school. They may continue using the platforms during school hours, but Meta cannot send notifications then except for messages or account and platform issues.<\/p>\n

Meta also agreed to bar minors from using features that alter photos to replicate cosmetic surgery. Children will be able to choose a nonpersonalized feed, preventing Meta\u2019s algorithms from targeting them with content in a manner the lawsuit argued encourages endless scrolling. The agreement also prohibits showing children the number of likes or reactions a post receives.<\/p>\n

The company must implement age-verification measures to determine whether users are under 18 and subject to the restrictions, or under 13 and already barred from Meta\u2019s platforms.<\/p>\n

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An independent auditor will monitor Meta\u2019s compliance with the agreement.<\/p>\n

Standing outside the federal courthouse in Oakland on Wednesday morning, Victoria Hinks of San Rafael smiled and expressed relief.<\/p>\n

Read more Surging Valkyries get statement win in New York as they finish season sweep of Liberty<\/a><\/p>\n

Hinks\u2019 daughter, Alexandra, died by suicide in 2024 after years of heavy social media use, often consuming Instagram content focused on anorexia and self-harm, Hinks said. The former Redwood High School student, who often went by the nickname \u201cOwl,\u201d would sometimes steal back her phone after her parents took it away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like there\u2019s finally some justice,\u201d Hinks said.<\/p>\n

She called the $17 billion figure \u201cmeaningful\u201d and praised the reforms Meta agreed to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ultimate goal is to make changes,\u201d Hinks said. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to get rid of social media \u2014 there\u2019s some good it could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she would have liked to hear an apology from Meta.<\/p>\n

\u201cMark Zuckerberg still has to answer for what his company did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

How effectively the settlement terms will prevent harms to children will depend on \u201cwhether Meta can accurately identify teenage users, whether kids can evade the restrictions through secondary accounts, and how much activity migrates into exempt categories like messaging and long-form video,\u201d said Stanford University law school professor Nora Freeman Engstrom.<\/p>\n

Stavros Gadinis, professor at UC Berkeley\u2019s law school and facility director of the school\u2019s Center for Law and Business, said Meta may have agreed to the deal to avoid the embarrassment of putting CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the witness stand. The company also sought to prevent more damaging evidence from emerging during the trial that could be used by plaintiffs in thousands of similar lawsuits or by shareholders challenging how executives\u2019 decisions affected Meta\u2019s stock price, Gadinis said.<\/p>\n

In settling, Meta reversed its previously combative approach to lawsuits alleging its products harmed children, Gadinis said. Gadinis noted that the company fought a similar case in New Mexico until a jury verdict and judge\u2019s ruling hit it with a nearly $1 billion penalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeta is kind of embracing the reforms,\u201d Gadinis said. \u201cIt wants to appear as the industry leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether Meta\u2019s social media rivals Snap, YouTube and TikTok follow suit remains unclear. None responded Wednesday to questions about potential changes to their platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hopeful that they\u2019re seeing the writing on the wall and will start doing the right thing,\u201d said Cheryl Westmont of Burlingame, a board member at New York-based Mothers Against Media Addiction. \u201cThey know they have a problem. They\u2019re putting profits over kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kris Perry, executive director of the New York think tank Children and Screens, noted that Meta\u2019s rivals have resisted calls for years to make their platforms safer for children. If they do not respond to Meta\u2019s agreement with changes of their own, \u201cchildren might just migrate\u201d to those platforms, Perry said.<\/p>\n

Hinks planned to visit her daughter\u2019s grave after returning home to San Rafael and deliver news of what she sees as a victory over Meta. Alexandra rests beneath a green patch of earth not far behind her family\u2019s house, a place Hinks and her husband, Paul, still visit every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just going to go up there,\u201d she said, \u201cand I\u2019m going to go to her beautiful grave and tell her, \u2018We did it.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Following historic collapse, SF Giants\u2019 bullpen rebounds with four scoreless innings in win<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Among the deal’s provisions are a two-hour total daily time limit on Facebook and Instagram for children under 18, and a nighttime blackout period from midnight to 6 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nFacebook and Instagram must put kids on a clock under landmark $17 billion Meta deal - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7900\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Facebook and Instagram must put kids on a clock under landmark $17 billion Meta deal - 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