The Meta Deal: Up to $64.5M for RI Over 10 Years; Parents Can Loosen Teen Limits, Workarounds Remain

Most restrictions will be activated automatically, but parents—not teenagers—may loosen several of them individually.

Rhode Island will receive at least $49.4 million and potentially as much as $64.5 million under a proposed multistate settlement requiring Meta Platforms, Inc. to pay up to $17.1 billion and make significant changes to Facebook and Instagram accounts used by children and teenagers.

Attorney General Peter Neronha joined attorneys general representing 47 states, the District of Columbia and several U.S. territories in announcing what they described as the largest Big Tech consumer-protection settlement in history.

The agreement resolves allegations that Meta deliberately designed Instagram and Facebook with features intended to keep young people scrolling, knew those features could contribute to mental-health problems, and misled parents and the public about the platforms’ safety. Meta has denied wrongdoing.

The settlement must still receive court approval before taking effect.

What will change for teenagers

The protections will apply automatically to accounts belonging to users ages 13 through 17. Meta must also strengthen its efforts to identify users’ ages and remove accounts belonging to children under 13.

Among the required changes:

• A combined two-hour daily limit on Instagram and Facebook. Time spent sending direct messages, watching certain long-form content or accessing account settings generally will not count toward the limit.
• A nighttime block preventing access to most Facebook and Instagram features from midnight to 6 a.m. Messaging and account settings will remain available.
• Push notifications turned off from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., with limited exceptions for urgent account-security or safety notices.
• School-day notifications turned off from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays during the school year. This is not a complete school-hours ban on using the platforms; messaging, security and safety notifications are excluded.
• “Productive Pauses,” including a notice after 15 minutes of continuous use and increasingly prominent pauses after 60 and 90 minutes of combined daily use.
• Like and reaction totals hidden from teenage users by default.
• Stronger protections against bullying and content involving eating disorders, suicide and self-harm.
• Expanded parental supervision tools, including information about how much time a teenager spends on the platforms and notices involving potentially suspicious contacts.
• Restrictions on cosmetic-surgery and extreme-makeup filters.

Meta must also offer teenagers the option of using a non-personalized feed instead of one selected by its recommendation algorithms.

Can parents opt their children out?

The protections are not all absolute restrictions. Many are default settings that a teenager cannot loosen without approval from a parent formally connected to the account through Meta’s parental-supervision system.

According to the full settlement agreement, a supervising parent may separately approve less-restrictive settings for:

• The two-hour daily limit;
• Nighttime access;
• School-hours notification restrictions;
• The 15-, 60- and 90-minute usage pauses; and
• The display of likes and reactions.

For changes involving daily limits, nighttime access or school mode, the parent must choose how long the exception will remain in place. When that period ends, the account returns to the settlement’s default protection.

Parents may also make any of those controls more restrictive.

This is not one blanket parental opt-out covering the entire settlement. Some provisions—including Meta’s age-assurance requirements, its prohibition on accounts for children under 13 and the ban on cosmetic-procedure filters for teenage users—are requirements imposed on Meta and are not listed as parent-adjustable settings.

“While there is still much work to be done, this agreement is a significant step forward safeguarding our children from the well-documented harms of social media use by young people,” Neronha said.

“The ways in which our children engage with social media, and technology generally, are constantly changing, and as such, we must continue to adapt our approach to online safety.”

Money and monitoring

Rhode Island is guaranteed at least $49.4 million. Its share could rise to $64.5 million if major competing platforms adopt comparable protections and related financial conditions are met.

Most of the settlement’s requirements will remain in place for 10 years, although the initial daily and nighttime limits are required for five years unless stronger, industry-wide restrictions take effect.

An independent auditor selected by Meta and the participating states will regularly review both the company’s compliance and the effectiveness of the new protections.

The settlement grew out of a nationwide investigation launched in 2021. Attorneys general alleged that Meta encouraged prolonged social-media use among children while internally documenting some of the resulting mental-health concerns and failing to provide adequate warnings to families.

The agreement also resolves separate state claims involving Meta’s sharing of nonpublic Facebook user information with third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, before the 2016 presidential election.

Meta said the settlement builds upon its existing Teen Accounts program and called upon TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar standards. Most of the new account controls are expected to be introduced within four to six months after the agreement becomes effective, while the expanded age-assurance requirements may take up to one year.

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Joining Rhode Island in this settlement will be Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.