Meta announced that it will implement stronger age‑verification measures on its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, following an $18 billion multi‑state settlement. The agreement, reached on August 26, seeks to curb the use of social media by minors and to address legal claims that the company designed its services to be addictive for children.
Current age‑verification practices
Until now, Meta has relied on self‑reported birth dates and contextual clues—such as birthday posts or school‑grade celebrations—to identify accounts that may belong to children. The company’s policy already bars users under 13 from creating accounts and places limits on teenage users, but younger users sometimes lie about their ages.
New requirements under the settlement
The settlement mandates several changes for users under 18. Meta must set daily usage limits, disable push notifications at night, and introduce more robust age‑checks. While the agreement does not require photo‑ID verification or video selfies, it does call for extra steps for accounts belonging to children under 13. These steps include searching the friend networks of the youngest accounts to identify and remove them, and making it easier for the public to report suspected child accounts.
An independent auditor will be allowed to review Meta’s compliance, and the company may temporarily use data from identified child accounts to train an artificial‑intelligence model that can better detect under‑13 users in the future.
Legal hurdles and COPPA
Meta has pointed to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a 1998 federal law that restricts the collection of personal data from children under 13 without parental consent. The company argues that COPPA limits its ability to gather the detailed information—such as IDs or biometric data—needed for strict age verification.
Legal experts note that while the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a policy stating it will not act against companies that collect data solely for age‑verification purposes, individual states retain authority to enforce COPPA violations. In New Mexico, a judge ruled that the state could not force Meta to require children to submit personal data or be passively tracked, citing concerns that such requirements would place Meta at an unfair disadvantage compared with competitors.
Implications for families and communities
The settlement reflects growing pressure from parents, faith‑based groups, and community leaders who worry about the impact of excessive screen time on children’s development and moral formation. By limiting nighttime notifications and setting usage caps, the agreement aims to give families more control over their children’s online habits.
Advocates for stronger online protections see the settlement as a step forward, though many argue that without more direct verification methods, under‑age users may still find ways to bypass the system.
What’s next?
Meta will begin rolling out the new measures over the coming months, with the independent auditor’s review scheduled later this year. State attorneys general will monitor compliance, and families are encouraged to report any accounts they suspect belong to minors.
As the digital landscape evolves, the settlement underscores the ongoing debate between protecting children’s privacy and ensuring that tech companies can operate without undue regulatory burdens.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
