- Time limits for children on Instagram and Facebook. Meta will be forced to limit young people’s use of its platforms to two hours each day. After 15 minutes, children will also be prompted to take a break to stop endless scrolling. The limits will be in effect for five years – and if Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube agree to similar terms, the limit will drop to an hour and last for 10 years.
- Nighttime blocks and school-time limits. Children will be banned from accessing feeds on Instagram and Facebook between midnight and 6am, and notifications will be blocked between 10pm and 7am. Push notifications will also be blocked on weekdays between 8am and 3pm, during the school year.
- Better age checks. Meta will be forced to introduce more robust age verification measures to ensure that young children are not using the platforms and posing as adults.
- Improved content controls and stronger and easier parental controls. Instagram and Facebook will be required to introduce stronger safeguards against potentially harmful content, such as posts about bullying, eating disorders, suicide and self-harm. Meta is required to add better and more simple ways for adults to monitor and limit the online activity of the young people they look after.
- Blocks on ‘social comparison’ features. Tools such as beauty filters and the “like” counts on posts – both of which have been accused of damaging young people’s wellbeing by encouraging comparison and low self-esteem – will be banned or limited for children.
IN FULL
