What Meta’s US Settlement on Child Safety Means for Europe

Meta’s settlement with 52 attorneys general from US states, territories, and the District of Columbia over allegations that Facebook and Instagram harmed children is likely to shift how regulators approach online safety in Europe too.

The agreement announced Wednesday requires Meta to make sweeping changes to how teenagers use its platforms in the US, including default limits on daily use, overnight restrictions and stronger age assurance. Meta is also calling on TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar measures. The settlement is still subject to court approval. 

Some of the measures Meta agreed to in the US are also being pursued by regulators elsewhere. In Europe, the UK, Australia, Brazil and Singapore regulators have spent years on initiatives to make platforms safer for children, often under existing laws that require companies to assess risks and protect young people.

In this case, the promised changes are a result of litigation rather than an elusive federal online safety law.

“This settlement has implications far beyond the US,” said Owen Bennett, an independent tech policy expert in the UK. “If I were a regulator sitting in Brasilia, Brussels, or Canberra, I would see this as a huge opportunity,” Bennett said. The measures regulators have spent years trying to secure from Meta, he said, are now likely occupying, “a meaningful share of Mark Zuckerberg’s headspace.”

Since Meta is a US company, he said, pressure from US courts and politicians will resonate differently inside the company than rules imposed by regulators overseas. “This settlement will focus executives’ hearts and minds on child safety in a way no global rulebook or regulator has yet been able to do.”

Enforcement in Europe within reach?

Europe is already pressing Meta on some of the same issues through the Digital Services Act (DSA).

In April, the European Commission preliminarily found Meta in breach of the DSA for failing to adequately identify, assess, and mitigate the risks of children under 13 accessing Instagram and Facebook. The Commission said Meta's existing approach did not sufficiently prevent under-13s from using the platforms.

Then in July, the Commission preliminarily found Meta in breach of the DSA over the addictive design of Facebook and Instagram. Its investigation focused on features including infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and personalized recommender systems. The Commission said Meta had not adequately assessed the risks those features posed to users' physical and mental wellbeing and that its existing mitigation measures were not effective enough.

The US settlement is significant because it shows that platforms can change the systems that contribute to harm, rather than simply restricting children’s access to them, said Hannah Storey, Head of Children and Young People's Digital Rights at Amnesty International.

“For years, Amnesty International, civil society and people harmed by social media have warned that major social media platforms have been designed to maximize engagement and profit, while failing to adequately protect children’s rights. This settlement is significant not just because of its scale, but because it demonstrates that social media platforms can change the design choices that drive harm to children when they are held accountable,” she said.

Storey said European regulators already have tools that could push platforms in the same direction. “In the EU, litigation at this scale may not be necessary. Existing regulatory mechanisms such as the Digital Services Act already require platforms to assess and address risks to children, while upcoming initiatives like the Digital Fairness Act could go further in driving safer platform design.”

These legal instruments could become increasingly important as governments weigh whether to restrict children’s access to social media altogether in Europe and beyond.

“This case is a reminder that the focus should be on fixing the platforms themselves. Rather than excluding young people from online spaces, policymakers should ensure platforms are safe by design,” said Storey.

A new reference point

The settlement may serve European regulators as both a reference point and a challenge. Julia Smakman of the Ada Lovelace Institute said the US case could strengthen European regulators’ arguments against Meta, particularly when the potential financial consequences of noncompliance are large.

“Both regulatory action and litigation can create incentives for companies to behave more responsibly, as long as the potential financial consequences are big enough. Having a big case coming from the US itself is likely to be helpful for regulators in Europe who are exploring similar legal arguments in enforcement cases,” she said.

Since the case ended in a settlement, rather than a court ruling, it does not establish a legal precedent. Still, Smakman suggested the agreement could give European regulators a useful baseline, while making it easier for European regulators to take more stringent measures or extend protections beyond children to all users.

That tension was already visible in the European Commission’s July findings. Smakman pointed to measures advocated by the Commission that appear to go beyond those of the settlement, including disabling features such as autoplay and infinite scroll by default.

Pushing the limits of change

The UK is facing a different set of choices. The Office of Communications (Ofcom) is already enforcing the child-safety duties under the Online Safety Act, while the British government has announced plans to restrict social media access for under-16s from spring 2027.

Steve Wood, a privacy expert and former UK deputy information commissioner, said the settlement reflects a broader shift in how governments are approaching technology companies. “It illustrates a growing international consensus on the need to hold technology companies to account, and there is significant overlap between the measures in the settlement and the aims of the DSA and OSA, as well as the accompanying guidance and codes of practice.”

For Europe, Wood said, the settlement arrives while policymakers are still considering how far to go with restrictions on children’s access to social media.

“In the EU, policymakers have some greater space to consider the settlement as they have not yet made a formal decision about a social media ban for children, and the European Commission’s engagement with Meta over DSA compliance and risks to children remains ongoing, following preliminary findings of non-compliance which closely match many of the claims made in the Meta trial,” he said.

The UK has less room to reconsider its direction. The government remains committed to a social media ban for children, though Wood said Meta’s US measures could still eventually have relevance for older teenagers who fall outside the UK ban and for smaller platforms that are not covered by it.

For regulators everywhere, the settlement provides a real-world test of what Meta is willing and able to change.