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As part of the settlement, the social media giant has agreed to make a number of changes to the way Instagram and Facebook operate for its youngest users.<\/p>\n
Some experts say it is long overdue. <\/p>\n
The new safety barriers include a two-hour time limit across both platforms, which will be a default setting for known teen users. But direct messaging on the platforms will not count towards the daily use limit.<\/p>\n
Notifications will be muted between midnight and 06:00 and on school days between 08:00 and 15:00.<\/p>\n
Likes on posts and content will also be entirely hidden on the platforms for teens.<\/p>\n
Most of these new features will be made either default or an option for teens within six months.<\/p>\n
However, new efforts by Meta to better identify which users on its platforms are children will take up to a year to be rolled out.<\/p>\n
I would be surprised if these measures remain within the confines of the US for very long, as other countries will almost certainly be keen to adopt them too.<\/p>\n
Meta also says the new features will only truly help children if all of its rivals adopt them as well. <\/p>\n
It’s a highly competitive industry, but given the global backlash against social media and its impact on children, perhaps others like TikTok and Snapchat may have to follow suit.<\/p>\n
The question then is whether children will still bother with them, once they are deliberately toned down into a much blander offering. <\/p>\n
And perhaps that would bring the social media era to a natural end, as existing adults gradually aged out of it.<\/p>\n
Arturo Bejar, the ex-Instagram engineer turned whistleblower, says the proof of the pudding will be in whether the new teen safety features are effective.<\/p>\n
“At the end of the day, Meta needs to be held accountable for results, not efforts,” he told me.<\/p>\n
Additional reporting from Kali Hays<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n