Meta has agreed to pay $18 billion over 10 years.

This money will settle a lawsuit with 48 U.S. states.

The lawsuit was about child safety on Instagram and Facebook.

Meta will also make age checks stronger.

It will limit users under 18 to two hours a day.

It will block them from the apps between midnight and 6 a.m.

It will hide "like" counts.

Most new safety rules will be on by default.

These rules apply only in the U.S.

They will last for 10 years.

Critics say the settlement is a step forward.

But they say it is not enough.

Arturo Béjar is a former Meta engineering director.

He called it a "significant milestone."

But he warned that Meta still decides what counts as harm.

He said the two-hour limit does not fix the addictive design of content recommendations.

Josh Golin is the head of the nonprofit Fairplay.

He said the deal gives parents tools.

But it does not turn off harmful algorithms by default.

Meta has agreed to improve its age-verification technology.

Outside audits will check how well it works.

The settlement has specific goals for false positives.

False positives happen when minors are wrongly seen as over 18.

If a user is removed for being under 13, Meta will check the ages of that user's friends.

Béjar said the age assurance section is "reasonably good."

It includes measurement and independent testing.

Some safety features will still be optional.

For example, users can turn off video autoplay.

They can also show posts in order of time.

Researchers have found that many past Meta protections did not work well.

Yaël Eisenstat is a former Meta employee.

She is now policy director at the Cybersafety Research Center.

She said the settlement is "monumental."

It shows that safer designs are possible.

She added that no single fix will solve everything.

More work is needed.

The settlement still needs a judge's approval.