Tech giant Meta agreed to a historic $18B payout to 47 U.S. states on Wednesday — as part of an effort to settle claims that social media has harmed American children.
Along with the cash — estimated to equal about a month’s revenue for the parent of Facebook and Instagram — the company also agreed to a sweeping overhaul of its safety features, which they said were designed to specifically protect underage users.
But some parents across the country were left wondering at the news — telling The Post it’s too little, too late
“It feels like cutting down a single tree in a forest,” sighed Nicole Noble, parent of two kids, 8 and 3.
“We seem to always build, observe and legislate these things backward in the tech and social media world,” the Virginia mom said. “Right now, it might not make a difference.”
“Not enough,” said Ruthie Friedlander, NYC mother of a three-year-old and proud aunt to a five-year-old. “Instagram hasn’t built proper safety guardrails to protect our kids.”
“I’ve watched it affect me, as an adult with a fully formed brain and a professional reason to understand exactly how the feed works. And I’m supposed to believe a 10- or 11-year-old is going to be able to contextualize a social platform? No,” the founder of At Large agency, a luxury branding firm, continued.
The rolled-out teen and child safety restrictions include daily two-hour time limits on Facebook and Instagram for minors, mandatory pauses during that time allotment to break up continuous scrolling, restricted access for young users between midnight and 6 a.m., and a halt to notifications on weekdays during school hours.
Also coming is a beef-up of age verification requirements and content safeguards — and a restriction on so-called “social comparison” content that encourages poor self-image or mental health, like certain beauty filters and visibility of like counts on posts.
Phil, a Westchester, NY father of a 10-year-old, welcomes even stronger protections, but worries “that we’re still asking the wrong question.”
“The question isn’t only how many hours children should be allowed to spend on these platforms; it’s why platforms designed by some of the world’s most sophisticated companies require children to exercise extraordinary self-control in the first place,” he told The Post.
“Parents absolutely have a responsibility to help our children develop healthy relationships with technology, but technology companies have a responsibility to create environments that don’t exploit predictable vulnerabilities in developing brains.”
Experts, company reps and parents alike were quick to suggest that industry-wide standards are likely to be the next step in tightening the rules.
“These limitations and restrictions sound fantastic. But they also seem like putting lipstick on a pig,” said Texas mother-of-one Michaeleen Doucleff, PhD, parenting expert and author of Dopamine Kids and Hunt, Gather, Parent.
“Kids are exceptionally good at getting around these types of restrictions. In the past, time and age limits have done very little to curb kids’ usage of social media. I’m extremely skeptical that Meta will or even can control the content on its app in a way that will actually protect kids,” the psych pro warned.
“One of the biggest challenges … is that these concerns don’t exist in isolation,” said Brooklyn parent and clinical psychologist Julie Kupfer, who has three children aged 15, 11 and 8. “The content kids encounter often finds its way to YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, and whatever platform comes next.”
“Meaningful safeguards need to address the broader digital ecosystem our kids are navigating—not just one app at a time,” she explained.
Others feel that these new restrictions are a good first step, but it won’t have as much of a positive effect on young users as officials hope.
“Forcing Meta into changes may be a good first step, and may be used as a template going forward, but these changes won’t affect most teenagers,” said Buffalo, NY-resident Todd Cretacci, a father of 13-year-old twins.
Los Angeles mom Amber Feld told The Post that any new standards or restrictions — no matter how broadly applied in the future — are no substitute for old-fashioned, hands-on parenting.
“Involvement is the most important thing — kids will always figure out a way to watch social media,” she said.
“The way I handle it with my 8-year-old is by saying, ‘We can watch this together, but not alone.’ So we pull up funny videos … and laugh our heads off. It’s just very, very supervised. And as his mom, I do that. Instagram can’t.”
Eric N., a California parent of an 8,11, and 16-year-old, agrees, telling The Post, “As parents, we have a responsibility to decide when our children are ready for social media, what they have access to, and how much screen time is appropriate. That’s part of parenting.”
“Maybe the bigger concern isn’t just how much time our children are spending looking at screens. Maybe it’s how much time they’re spending looking at their parents looking at screens, and how much of our attention they’re missing because of it,” he added.
