In a historic settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc., the company behind Facebook and Instagram, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Aug. 26 Meta will pay over $1 billion to Texas to help protect children online. Protections include stricter age-assurance measures and time limits for minors. Texas Baptists Christian Life Commission urges still broader protections.
The settlement
Beyond the monetary payment, the settlement requires Meta to adopt significant new measures aimed at enhancing the safety and protection of children on its platforms.
Meta will pay more than $1 billion to Texas under the settlement, with the funds supporting remediation efforts such as youth mental health services, crisis resources, digital literacy programs, after-school initiatives, and grants for Texas schools.
The settlement comes after Meta agreed to a landmark payout of up to $17.1 billion with 47 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories to resolve lawsuits accusing the company of designing addictive features on Facebook and Instagram that harmed children’s mental health. Texas was not involved in that lawsuit, according to the Texas Tribune.
As part of Texas’ settlement, Meta will be required to implement stricter age-assurance measures and a daily two-hour time limit for teen users. Notifications will be turned off by default during school hours unless a parent changes the setting. Likes and reactions will also be hidden by default to reduce social comparison.
Meta will also introduce a nighttime access mode that, by default, limits notifications and other features for children during designated overnight hours, while maintaining restrictions on age-inappropriate content and tools for parental supervision.
“It is my mission to fundamentally change and strengthen the standards for child safety online, and this settlement is a major step forward in the fight to ensure our kids are protected online,” Paxton said in a press release.
The settlement marks the third agreement worth more than $1 billion Paxton has reached with a major technology company. He previously secured a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta over allegations the company unlawfully collected and used facial recognition data, as well as a $1.375 billion settlement with Google over alleged violations of Texans’ privacy rights.
Paxton is also scheduled to take TikTok to trial in fall 2026 as part of his broader efforts to address online safety and protect children.
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Limits of the settlement
While Katie Frugé, director of the Texas Baptists Christian Life Commission, appreciates the new protective measures, she cautioned the settlement does not address the broader challenges of protecting minors online.
“While stricter limits are a step in the right direction, we ought to be clear-eyed that this is only the first of many steps needed to make social media safer for minors,” Frugé said.
“Age verifications are often easy to bypass and currently apply only to Facebook and Instagram. Its effectiveness will depend partly on whether similar protections are adopted across the broader social-media industry, as minors routinely move among many different digital platforms,” she continued.
Frugé urged parents “to remain vigilant in both protecting their children from the known harms of social media and [support] common-sense legislation that holds all social media companies accountable for the ways they design, market, and recommend content to young users.”
Frugé also emphasized the settlement’s limited scope, saying parents cannot rely solely on platform-level safeguards and must continue to play an active role in guiding their children’s use of technology.
“Parents and guardians need to know that while the heart of this settlement is the protection of children, it does not apply to the wider base of social media platforms that we know minors are using. Currently, the settlement applies only to Facebook and Instagram.
“It does not apply to other Meta-related platforms such as WhatsApp or Messenger, and does not apply to more popular social media platforms for minors such as YouTube, TikTok, or Snapchat.
“Christian parents should remember that discipleship begins at home and intentionally cultivate habits, conversations, and boundaries that promote healthy technology use within the family,” Frugé said.
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