Meta’s settlement with US states will restrict Instagram and Facebook use for teens overnight, including a default midnight to 6 am lockout. The company has not announced similar rules for India yet. Indian users already have Instagram’s sleep mode, screen-time limits and parental controls, but wider changes remain unconfirmed.

Instagram could be about to get a lot harder to use late at night, but only if you're a teenager, at least for now. Meta has struck a sweeping settlement with US state attorneys general over lawsuits accusing Instagram and Facebook of fuelling excessive, addictive use among young users, and one of its headline provisions is a night-time lockout. Naturally, the question on everyone's mind here is whether that same restriction is headed to India.

What deal has Meta struck?

Meta's deal, reached with a bipartisan group of attorneys general across dozens of US states, territories and Washington DC, settles litigation accusing the company of designing Instagram and Facebook to keep young users hooked, misrepresenting the risks involved, and improperly collecting data from children under 13. As part of the agreement, teenagers under 18 in participating states will, by default, be locked out of Instagram and Facebook between midnight and 6 am. A default two-hour daily cap on combined Instagram and Facebook use kicks in too, notifications will be muted during school hours, and parents get expanded tools to manage how their teens use the apps. Meta has also agreed to hide like counts by default, offer a non-algorithmic feed option, and restrict certain appearance-altering filters for teens. Most of these obligations are expected to stay in force for a decade, with compliance checked by an independent auditor.

So is it coming to India?