The fallout of an $18 billion lawsuit against Meta, announced on Wednesday, is already here. A new announcement from Meta is designed to meet the terms of the settled lawsuit while helping to prevent teen social media addiction.
In its post, Meta outlined a series of changes to both Instagram and Facebook that will apply only to those under 18. Most of the changes were required as part of the lawsuit settlement, notably the creation of daily limits and night mode controls for teens, as well as the adoption of age-assurance measures to help prevent cheating the system. As part of the agreement, Meta has denied any wrongdoing.
There’s been worldwide pushback against teens and children using social media, including the EU restricting access to social apps for kids under 13, and Australia banning apps like Instagram for anyone under 16. But some advocates worry Meta’s changes won’t be enough to fully protect teens.
In an interview with Democracy Now on Thursday, attorney and co-director of the AI Now research institute, Amba Kak, said the changes don’t address the platform’s architecture, which is designed to addict teenagers with features like infinite scroll. “It’s the business model of surveillance advertising, where it is the optimization of engagement and attention at any cost,” Kak said. “And I think if we don’t get at those root cause fixes, we’re going to be stuck playing whack-a-mole.”
A representative from Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Time limits for kids
Chief among the upcoming changes to Instagram and Facebook are time limitations for teens. A new default time limit will set the social media scrolling time to 2 hours a day for those under 18, and it can only be extended by parents.
An additional night mode will block most access to content such as feeds, stories, explore mode and reels between midnight and 6 a.m. and a school mode will mute notifications between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Meta is also adding a feature to give 15-minute warnings to teens if they’ve been on the apps for an extended period of time, as well as 60-minute and 90-minute warnings they’re daily allotment is running down. To further reduce constant scrolling, autoplay for videos and clips will also be turned off by default, but like most features, it can be adjusted by parents.
Protection against toxic content
Meta is also implementing a number of changes intended to reduce toxicity and obsession with social media. By default, teens won’t see likes and reactions on posts, including their own. They’ll also be restricted from seeing certain content, such as cosmetic surgery and “extreme makeup” filters, although it’s not clear how far those limitations will extend (for example, a filter that adds dog ears).
Meta is adding age-appropriate content restrictions, but it remains vague on the details. While using movie ratings and parent feedback to build filters, the company fails to explain how this applies to social media posts or provide examples of blocked content.
In addition, teens will have the option to choose a non-algorithm version of their feeds that won’t be personalized by any Meta recommendations (which I also want for my own account).
Hazy tools for age verification
A new age-assurance strategy is also coming to Instagram and Facebook, but it’s unclear how it will work.
“We’re investing in even stronger technology to proactively catch accounts that may belong to under-13s,” Meta said on its blog. “We’re also strengthening the technology we use to identify accounts that may be between the ages of 13 and 17.”
Meta didn’t provide any details on how this tech would work, what it would look for or how it would flag accounts. I also asked about any appeals process for those incorrectly tagged, but Meta didn’t respond to my request.
It’s possible Meta will be using AI scan to profile context, account activity and visual cues to raise red flags, but there’s not much clarity otherwise.
Rolling out changes
The proposed changes were approved by a judge on Thursday, and Meta will roll out the first protections in the coming months, with the rest to follow afterward, although the exact timeline isn’t clear. As required by the agreement, Meta will also establish an independent social media research foundation to share “consented” user data in an effort to support teen well-being.
In its post, Meta said, “The fact is that teens move fluidly between dozens of apps a day. All platforms should empower parents and support teens by putting the same measures in place … we urge TikTok and YouTube to join us and state attorneys general in adopting this new standard.”
Other platforms have not responded to this call-out.
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