For most of Gen Z, our relationship with social media didn’t start with a conscious decision. We downloaded Instagram, Facebook and many other social media platforms before we had even heard the word “algorithm,” let alone understood how much time we would waste on these apps. Now, more than 15 years after Instagram launched, Meta has agreed to pay up to approximately $18 billion to settle claims by 47 states alleging that Meta platforms harmed and addicted users under 18.  

As part of the settlement, Meta must also make major changes to its platforms for users ages 13 to 17, including a two-hour time limit, blocking access from midnight to 6 a.m., muting notifications during school hours, disabling cosmetic filters and hiding likes. These changes are a step in the right direction, but they may be far too late for the millions of people who have felt the consequences of growing up on social media.  

There is something strangely familiar about all of this. In the late 1990s, major tobacco companies faced their own reckoning for what they knew about nicotine addiction and the health consequences of smoking cigarettes. Though the products are different, the underlying question seems similar: What responsibility does a company have to its customers when its profits depend on getting people hooked?  

Meta continues to face lawsuits from school districts and individuals, while other social media giants like YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok face legal scrutiny of their own. Yet after nearly a decade, if not more, of addictive social media practices being implemented on Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram), Meta released an “Open Letter to TikTok and YouTube to Join Us in Supporting Teens.” They emphasized the importance of teen safety as the “new industry standard,” which makes one wonder if the previous industry standard was something along the lines of “How Can We Maximize Profit from Underdeveloped Brains?” But Meta’s clear enthusiasm for this reform becomes less inspirational when you notice the fine print within the settlement: approximately $5.3 billion of this payment is contingent on TikTok and YouTube adopting similar restrictions and making payments of their own.  

The settlement works to make social media safer for the generation coming after us, which is obviously a good thing. But for Gen Z especially, these new restrictions bring to light an uncomfortable question: Why are companies only now required to protect us from the features many of us have been using since middle school?