The scroll is finally getting a curfew | The Express Tribune

For millions of American teenagers, the nightly ritual of scrolling through Instagram or Facebook is about to acquire something unfamiliar: a stopping point.

Under a sweeping settlement, Meta will impose curfews and daily usage limits on young users, fundamentally changing how they can spend time on its platforms.

The agreement, reached with nearly all US states, resolves allegations that Meta deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to hook children, misled the public about the risks and unlawfully collected personal data from children under 13.

Meta denied wrongdoing while agreeing to the restrictions.

The scale of the settlement is striking. Meta will pay up to $18 billion over the next decade, including as much as $16.7 billion to 47 states and several US territories, with another agreement with Texas worth more than $1 billion. The sums underline how seriously authorities now view the issue.

For teenagers, however, the most tangible consequences will not be measured in billions of dollars. They will be measured in hours. Within six months, teen accounts will by default be blocked from Facebook and Instagram between midnight and 6am local time, unless parents approve otherwise.

The overnight restriction will not completely shut down every function. Messaging and certain settings will remain available, but they will be stripped down so teenagers cannot use them to access the wider platform. Push notifications will also be switched off between 10pm and 7am.

During the day, teenage accounts will face another boundary: two hours of cumulative use across Meta's apps. The clock resets at midnight, although messaging and long-form video will not count towards the total. Parents can approve changes, but teenagers cannot alter the limits themselves.

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