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Meta Settlement Brings New Age Checks for Young Users
Meta runs Facebook and Instagram, but its rules say children under 13 should not use them.
Some children get around the rule by saying they are older when they sign up.
A new settlement requires Meta to do more to find and remove accounts used by children.
Meta will look for clues, including connections between very young users and their friends.
People will also have an easier way to report accounts they think belong to children.
An independent reviewer will check some of Meta’s age-checking work.
Meta will not have to demand photo IDs or video selfies under this settlement.
The company can temporarily use information from accounts it identifies as belonging to children to train an AI system.
However, a privacy law limits how companies can collect personal information from children, making stricter checks legally difficult.
Meta’s $18 billion settlement with U.S. states requires stronger age checks for children and teenagers.
The settlement does not require photo-ID checks or video selfies, but focuses especially on identifying users under 13.
Meta must examine young users’ friend networks, make account reporting easier, and permit independent audits.
The company may temporarily use data from identified children to train an artificial-intelligence model detecting under-13 users.
Legal restrictions under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act complicate efforts to collect data for age verification.
- Who
- Meta, U.S. states, children and teenagers using Facebook and Instagram, and an independent auditor.
- What
- Meta agreed to stronger age-assurance measures and other changes in an $18 billion legal settlement.
- Where
- The measures apply to Meta’s platforms in the United States, with related cases in New Mexico and state enforcement nationwide.
- When
- The settlement was announced on August 26; related legal developments included a February FTC policy statement and an August 6 New Mexico judgment.
- Why
- The settlement aims to curb children’s use of social media and resolve claims that Meta designed its platforms to addict children, while operating within privacy-law limits.
Child Safety Advocates
Privacy and Legal Concerns
How strict age checks should be
Child Safety Advocates
Advocates for stronger child protections say social media companies should take responsibility and use more proactive measures to prevent children from accessing their platforms.
Privacy and Legal Concerns
Meta and other companies say reliable checks may require collecting IDs, biometric information, or detailed activity records, which can create legal and privacy problems.
Role of COPPA
Child Safety Advocates
Experts say companies have invoked the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act as a distraction from their responsibility for allowing children onto their platforms.
Privacy and Legal Concerns
Courts and companies say COPPA restricts collecting children’s personal information, and strict verification could expose companies to liability or disadvantage them compared with competitors.
Government protection for age-verification data
Child Safety Advocates
The Federal Trade Commission said in February it would not act against companies collecting information solely to determine a user’s age through age-verification technologies.
Privacy and Legal Concerns
Legal experts said the FTC policy offers only partial protection because states can still enforce COPPA violations even when the FTC declines to do so.
Key facts
- Settlement value
- $18 billion
- Platforms
- Facebook and Instagram
- Minimum platform age
- Meta bars children under 13 from using the platforms.
- Required age checks
- Meta must take extra steps to identify under-13 users, including searching friend networks.
- Not required
- The settlement does not require photo-ID checks or video selfies.
- Other protections
- Changes for users under 18 include daily usage limits and disabling push notifications at night.
- Relevant privacy law
- The 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act restricts companies’ collection of personal data from children under 13 without parental consent.
Sources
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