Meta has agreed to pay up to $17 billion and add teen safeguards to Instagram and Facebook to end a landmark trial over social media addiction. It's a step in the right direction. It isn't a safety plan for your family.
That's what Meta agreed to pay on Wednesday to end a landmark trial over teen social media addiction and settle claims filed by 47 states.
The deal came midway through the trial's second week, days after a former Meta engineer testified against the company and right before Mark Zuckerberg was expected to take the stand.
The states alleged Meta knew its products were addictive and harmful to children, hid that from the public, and kept building them that way. Because it made money.
Meta also agreed to a set of teen safeguards, including:
No. This is a step in the right direction for protecting kids online, but a settlement isn't a safety plan for your family.
Kids turn off default settings, enter a different birthday, or use an older sibling's account.
Australia banned social media for under-16s in December 2025. Yet April 2026 independent survey of Australian 12- to 15-year-olds found that 61% of teens who had accounts on restricted platforms still had at least one active account. Most didn't even need a workaround. The platforms simply never flagged them. Of the ones who did get around something, 70% said it was easy.
It's also unclear how long the rollout will take. Your child's Instagram account works the same way tonight as it did last night.
The apps kids actually use. Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Roblox, Discord, and every AI companion app. None of them are bound by any of this. Meta's own chief legal officer publicly called on TikTok and YouTube to follow its lead. Our team has spoken in more than 600 schools, and Instagram is rarely the first answer when we ask students where they actually spend their time.
Direct messages. Sextortion and messages from drug dealers don't happen in the feed. They happen in direct messages.
Contact from strangers. Nothing in this settlement blocks children from dangerous people on Meta platforms.
Set the limits yourself. Tonight, on every app, not just the two Meta owns. Our Apple Family Sharing module walks you through doing it at the operating system level in about ten minutes.
Explain the business model. Instagram isn't the product. Your child's attention is. That's how Meta makes money. A kid who understands that starts seeing the app differently than a kid who's only been told no.
Fix Instagram specifically. Check that your child's age is set correctly, confirm the account is a Teen Account, connect supervision through Family Center, and set the account to private. Our Instagram module shows you how.
Get the phone out of the bedroom. Meta is going to block notifications overnight, eventually, on two apps. You can do better than that tonight, on every app at once, for free. That's what our Digital Bedtime module is for.
Check the apps this doesn't cover. Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Roblox, Discord. That's where most of what we see in schools is actually happening.
Remind them they can come to you. With anything that happens online, no matter how awkward or uncomfortable. That they won't be in trouble. And that you'll walk with them through it.
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Ben Tracy is a leading keynote speaker on digital citizenship, online safety, and responsible social media use.
He is also a successful endurance athlete who recently completed a 3,125 mile transcontinental run across America to raise awareness about the dangers facing children online and honor children lost to social media harms.
Over 125 days, Ben completed 120 marathons from coast to coast and spoke in more than 50 schools along the way.
Since 2018, Ben has spoken to more than 500,000 students, parents, and educators in over 600 schools nationwide.
Get step-by-step video tutorials, real-time alerts, a growing parent community, action plans and monthly live webinars. Join Haven Free for 7 days!
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