University of Salford

08/27/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/27/2026 03:02

Expert comment: Meta legal decision and changes to Facebook and Instagram usage

27.08.26

Expert comment: Meta legal decision and changes to Facebook and Instagram usage

Categories: School of Science, Engineering and Environment

Meta, owner of Facebook, has settled a lawsuit in the US over claims that it harmed children. As part of the settlement, the social media giant has agreed to make a number of changes to the way Instagram and Facebook operate for its youngest users.

The new safety measure include a two-hour time limit across both Facebook and Instagram, among other changes.

Professor Andy Miah, Chair in Science Comms & Future Media at the University of Salford, comments on the changes: "The case against Meta conflated two critical concerns about child online safety and treated them as though they were part of one problem. Exposure to harmful content and the habitual consumption of content are both risks, but they needed separating much more clearly in this case to ensure the recommendations will be effective.
"The new measures will send a shockwave through the digital and tech sector, the outcome of which will be a lot more attention to social responsibility, but there is a huge amount of misunderstanding in all of this. Behaviours that we loosely call addictive are, often, far from what we call addictive in a medically defined sense and, if we treat them as if they are the same, we lose insight into the problem.
"Putting in bans and curfews may sound like a strong principle and will be very popular, but it's a blunt instrument that doesn't take into account how young people interact today with every aspect of their lives. While other social media companies are likely to follow, it needs a much more rigorous societal response with digital wellbeing discussions in schools and a more positive conversation about the power of digital to do good. The impact of telling children they can't have something, without a positive conversation about what else could be done will frustrate the outcomes.
"Making it easier for parents to understand what their children are seeing is where I'd place the emphasis, but this is useful especially for younger children. As we get into the 13-16 year old age range, we need a much more sophisticated approach that isn' easily solved by just bans and curfews.
"The advent of artificial intelligence will make this ruling seem like a drop in the ocean of behaviour change that is happening as a result of digital transformatons. We need to adopt the mindset that social media isn't what it used to be and turn our attention to how socialisation through artificial intelligence is ushering in a new era of potential harms for young people."

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University of Salford published this content on August 27, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on August 27, 2026 at 09:02 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]