Meta introduces ‘nighttime nudge’ on Instagram to limit screen time day after New Mexico lawsuit revelations of child exploitation

“Our investigation into Meta’s social media platforms demonstrates that they are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement Wednesday.

Described as a “wellness tool” to help teens prioritize sleep, the nudge will automatically show teen Instagram users a black screen asking them to take a break from the app if they use it after 10 p.m. The screen, which cannot be turned off, will appear if the user has spent more than 10 minutes on the app at night.

Meta says the nudge is part of a wider effort to help users limit Instagram use, increase parental involvement in time management on the app and monitor their teens’ app usage. Introduced in June, parental supervision tools on Instagram Messenger allow parents to view how much time their kids spend on the app, who can message their kid (no one, friends or friends of friends on the app) and their kids’ privacy and safety settings.

Meta introduced a raft of policy changes on Jan. 9, including placing teens in “most restrictive content control setting on Instagram and Facebook,” making it more difficult for users to find sensitive content on the app’s Search and Explore functions.

Meta’s continued efforts to enhance protections for children using their apps have allegedly fallen short. In October, 41 states sued Meta, accusing the company of harming children by creating and designing apps…