Meta’s $18 billion settlement has brought the debate over children’s safety on social media back to the forefront in the U.S., and the company’s newly announced usage restrictions have been met with cautious support from families. The measures, covering Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, are aimed at reducing the amount of time young users spend on the platforms and limiting certain engagement tools.

Parents who spoke to the BBC said the changes were a positive start, but that their long-term impact could remain limited. Their shared concern was that the effects of social media on children cannot be addressed by steps taken by a single company alone.

Among the changes Meta announced are a daily two-hour usage limit, hiding like counts on posts, removing autoplay on videos, muting notifications during school hours and banning overly embellished makeup filters. The company also said it would update age-verification processes and parental control tools, and appoint an independent monitor to oversee whether the changes are implemented and maintained.

The settlement follows the expansion of a lawsuit filed in 2023 by 29 states over claims that Meta harmed children. The final agreement now covers 48 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories. The case alleged that the company designed its platforms to be addictive and misled the public about the risks. The settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing.

From a financial perspective, the $18 billion payment is being viewed as a major milestone, underscoring the scale of legal risk facing the tech industry over child safety. Meta’s decision to tie $5 billion of the settlement to similar deals from rival platforms such as YouTube and TikTok has also deepened the debate over competition and regulation. The company said it would reduce the daily time limit to one hour if other platforms adopt similar restrictions.

Many parents also stressed that keeping children completely off social media is difficult in practice. Some said the new rules could ease arguments at home, while others argued the restrictions could quickly be bypassed by artificial intelligence-powered filters and new content creation tools.

That picture is strengthening expectations of higher compliance costs and tighter oversight not just for Meta, but for the social media industry as a whole. The U.S. settlement suggests that pressure on digital platforms could increase, particularly over business models, data collection practices and product design when children are involved.