Meta's latest teen safety commitments are US-only (for now)

Meta’s new teen safety measures on Facebook and Instagram will only be enforced in the US for now, despite growing international pressure to expand them. The policies, which include default time limits and parental controls for users aged 13 to 17, were announced as part of a settlement in a child safety lawsuit. A Meta spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company will monitor the changes and remain in talks with governments in other countries.

The restrictions include a two-hour default time limit on both apps for teens and a nighttime block, which parents can adjust or reduce. Meta also added reminders that teens can switch to a non-algorithmic feed, and parents or guardians can set that feed as the default. The company pledged to keep these particular measures in place for five years, and to make the time limits stricter if TikTok and YouTube adopt similar policies.

The UK government has specifically called on Meta to apply the same rules there. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said the UK expects that young people in America should not have a higher level of protection than those in the UK, according to The Independent. He added that the government is not relying solely on Meta and is taking its own action. The UK is one of several jurisdictions that have pledged to ban social media for under 16s.

Meta agreed to these measures to settle claims from dozens of US states over children’s privacy and social media addiction. As part of the settlement, the company will pay the states up to $18 billion. Meta has not admitted any wrongdoing in the settlement, even though it published its own research in 2021 indicating that Instagram was harmful to teens.

Critics have noted that Meta is trying to set the standard for child safety across the industry, while also avoiding liability. By enforcing these measures only in the US for now, the company appears to be balancing its public commitments with maintaining engagement on its platforms. The move leaves the door open for different rules in other markets, even as governments like the UK push for parity.

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