Meta's child safety measures face scrutiny in court and beyond
Meta defends its child safety record in court, but critics argue its features are inadequate and designed to maximize engagement.
Meta is defending its record on child safety as it faces a wave of lawsuits in a California federal court. The company is accused of deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook to be addictive for young users, contributing to a youth mental health crisis. Four states are seeking billions in damages and demanding significant changes to the platforms.
In opening statements, Meta's lawyer, Paul Schmidt, said the company takes children's mental health seriously and has a long history of trying to act on these issues. However, critics argue that the company's safety record is lacking and that many of its protections are ineffective.
Marc Berkman, executive director at the Organization for Social Media Safety, said Meta introduced safeguards in response to public pressure rather than genuine concern, citing a lack of real institutional willingness to act.
Meta points to several features it has added over the years, including tools to block users, filter offensive comments, and report problematic accounts. The company also says it prevents adults from messaging teens they aren't connected to and has increased checks to enforce its minimum age of 13. It highlights its "Teen Accounts," launched in 2024, which come with content restrictions similar to a PG-13 rating unless parents grant permission.
Despite these measures, a September 2025 report from whistleblower Arturo Béjar and online safety nonprofits accused Meta of not taking real steps to address youth safety, instead opting for "splashy headlines." Haley Hinkle, policy counsel at Fairplay, which co-authored the report, said an evaluation of 47 safety features found 60% were either unavailable or didn't work as advertised. Meta dismissed the report's findings as "misleading" and "dangerously speculative."
Researchers also question Meta's efforts to curb addictive scrolling. Ashley Shea, a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University, points to "attention-capture deceptive designs" like infinite scrolling and algorithmic recommendations that "prey on the cognitive vulnerabilities" of young people. She acknowledged Meta has taken steps on problematic content but said it hasn't done enough to offset the addictive impact of these designs.
Meta's time management tools, including parental supervision controls and in-app "nudges" for teens who spend too long on the apps, are cited by Schmidt as proof of its evolution. However, critics like Hinkle call these tools "entirely voluntary" and "far too little too late." Béjar testified that the "Take a Break" feature is "designed to fail" because users must turn it on themselves.
Berkman noted that tech companies exist to maximize revenue, which often means maximizing the time children spend on their platforms. Shea added that legal challenges focusing on "defective products by design" are new, and mounting pressure from litigation could force industrywide changes. "The momentum only continues to grow," she said, noting that for-profit companies will adapt faster when confronted with economic pressure.