Meta defaults teen Instagram, Facebook use to two-hour cap

The product is the story. Meta agreed with a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general to default Instagram and Facebook accounts under 18 into a two-hour daily cap, a midnight-to-6 a.m. block, muted school-hour notifications, and stronger age assurance — with parents as the off switch.

Meta puts the payment at about $18 billion over ten years. California AG Rob Bonta and Massachusetts AG Andrea Joy Campbell describe a proposed settlement in the $17 billion range to participating states. Meta updated its post Aug. 27, 2026, to note a judge’s approval of the agreement. The money is secondary. The defaults are the rule.

The rule in English

For users under 18 on Instagram and Facebook, in participating U.S. states and territories:

• Time limit: Default two-hour daily cap across Facebook and Instagram. A teen cannot turn it off without a parent.
• Night mode: Default block midnight to 6 a.m. on Feed, Stories, Explore, and Reels (Meta’s list).
• School mode: Push notifications muted by default 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with direct messages and account-security or safety alerts exempt.
• Age assurance: Within about a year, Meta must deploy an enhanced framework to identify under-13 and 13-to-17 accounts with high accuracy, without requiring government ID, per the Massachusetts AG’s summary.
• Oversight: An independent auditor reports to the states on compliance.

Meta says most terms last ten years. Time Limit and Night Mode start as a five-year commitment unless peers join, in which case Meta says the daily cap drops to one hour and Night Mode expands to 10 p.m.–7 a.m.

Direct messaging is excluded from Night Mode, Time Limit, and School Mode, Meta says — so the chat rail stays open while the feed rail closes.

Who wrote it / who it binds

The writers are the state AGs (Meta lists 52 jurisdictions) and Meta, via a negotiated settlement resolving youth-harm and consumer-protection claims. Trial in the Northern District of California had opened Aug. 18, 2026, before the deal.

It binds Meta’s Instagram and Facebook teen products in participating jurisdictions. Parents can lift the defaults. Teens cannot.

California’s release also lists bans on cosmetic-surgery filters for under-18s, hiding like counts, an option for a non-personalized feed, and enhanced parental supervision tools. Meta’s own post matches the core defaults and adds regular prompts at 15 minutes of continuous use and at 60 and 90 minutes cumulative.

Who it exempts

Adults 18 and over. Platforms that are not Meta — for now. Meta’s payment structure holds about 30% (~$5.3 billion) until YouTube and TikTok adopt matching one-hour limits, Night Mode, and age assurance and each match that payment slice. That is leverage, not a binding order on those companies.

What a parent, school, or founder should do differently

Parents: the defaults are on unless you turn them off. Check supervision tools; Meta says it will notify parents when a teen links a secondary account and when protective settings change.

Schools: school-hour mute is a product default on Meta apps, not a district policy. Bell-to-bell phone rules are still a separate layer.

Founders and other platforms: the AG template is public — time, night, school mute, age assurance, auditor. Meta is daring peers to match it. Liability and product-design claims against social products for teens remain live for companies outside the deal.

Frame note

This is a kids, parents, schools, platforms, liability story. The technology did the routing of attention — feeds, notifications, session length. The settlement rewrites those defaults. It is not a medical-access story. No how-to.