Meta has been forced to pay up to $26 billion (around US$18 billion) to settle a landmark US case over the alleged harm its platforms have caused children and teenagers. The recent finding is yet another majorly expensive headache for Facebook and Instagram since it could force marketers to rethink the way they reach the next generation, possibly turning away from these usual social media platforms.

The settlement resolves claims that Meta deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to encourage compulsive use among young people.

In addition to the enormous payout, Meta has agreed to impose significant new restrictions on under-18 internet users, including capping their daily usage limits, initiating overnight access blocks, reducing notifications, and insisting on greater parental control over feeds and settings. Stronger age verification and restrictions around personalised content are also part of the changes.

For marketers, however, the bigger story may be what happens when young consumers become harder to reach through the platforms that have dominated digital advertising for more than a decade?

Teenagers have long represented an attractive audience for brands, particularly in fashion, beauty, entertainment, food and technology. But if their time online is deliberately reduced, marketers may have fewer opportunities to rely on endless scrolling, algorithmic recommendations and highly personalised feeds to deliver messages.

It could accelerate a return to more considered forms of engagement: creator partnerships, communities, live experiences, retail activations, music and culture, and content that audiences actively seek out rather than passively consume.

There is another potential ripple effect. Meta is urging competitors – including TikTok and YouTube – to adopt similar protections, meaning the changes could spread across the social media landscape.

For marketers, the lesson is simple: the information economy may be entering an age where attention can no longer be taken for granted.

Personally, we cannot wait for the comeuppance to reach Facebook and Instagram – those purveyors of slop over quality content, and algorithms that act as restrictors of all that is actually enlightening, truly funny, and good.

Michael Mastess & Antonino Tati

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