Facebook and Instagram in Norway could face new restrictions for teenagers after the Norwegian government asked Meta to introduce the same protections recently agreed with authorities in the USA. The measures would block access to the platforms for teenagers between midnight and 6 a.m. and impose a default daily limit of two hours.
The Norwegian government sent a letter to Meta calling on the company to extend the new safeguards to young users in Norway. In an official statement published on 12 September, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said technology companies should take greater responsibility for protecting children and teenagers online.
“Children’s safety must come first,” Støre said. “We therefore sent a letter to Meta with a clear expectation that Meta also introduces measures to protect children and young people in Norway.”
Norway wants the same Facebook and Instagram limits as the USA
The Norwegian request follows a settlement between Meta and a bipartisan group of attorneys general representing US states and territories. The agreement requires the company to introduce a series of restrictions for users under 18 on Facebook and Instagram.
One of the most significant measures is Night Mode, which blocks teenagers from accessing the apps between midnight and 6 a.m. During those hours, users aged between 13 and 17 will not be able to view or post content on Feed, Stories, Explore or Reels.
The settlement also introduces a default two-hour daily limit across Facebook and Instagram. Teenagers can exceed the limit only with parental permission. Time spent across different accounts detected as belonging to the same user will count towards the total. Meta said the measures will automatically apply to users under 18 in participating US jurisdictions.
Notifications will also be muted by default during school hours, between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., with exceptions for direct messages and security or safety alerts. Teenagers will receive reminders after 15 minutes of continuous use and additional prompts when they reach 60 and 90 minutes of daily screen time.
Stronger controls for teenagers
The agreement also includes stronger age verification, additional parental controls and the possibility of using a non-personalised feed instead of one based on Meta’s recommendation algorithms.
Teen accounts will receive stronger privacy protections, while some cosmetic filters and other features considered unsuitable for minors will be restricted. The agreement also strengthens systems intended to identify accounts belonging to children under 13.
Meta has denied wrongdoing in the legal cases that led to the settlement. The company has nevertheless agreed to pay around $18 billion (€15.3 billion) over ten years, although part of the amount depends on TikTok and YouTube adopting comparable measures.
The agreement was approved by a US federal judge on 27 August 2026. Most of its provisions will remain in force for ten years, while the current time limit and Night Mode commitments initially apply for five years. They would become stricter if other major platforms join the framework.
Norway is also preparing a social media age limit
The request to Meta is part of a broader Norwegian effort to restrict children’s access to social media.
The government is preparing legislation that would prevent children under 16 from using social media and require platforms to introduce effective age-verification systems. The government aims to present the proposal before the end of 2026.
Minister of Children and Families (Barne- og familieministeren) Lene Vågslid said the US settlement represented an important step towards stronger digital protection for young people and that Norway expected Meta to introduce comparable safeguards.
The government has also stressed that age-verification systems should be effective while respecting users’ privacy. The Norwegian proposal would place responsibility on technology companies to ensure that children below the legal age cannot access covered platforms.
Meta has not yet announced whether the US restrictions will be extended to Norway. If the company accepts Oslo’s request, Norwegian teenagers could become among the first users outside the USA to be covered by the new Facebook and Instagram limits.
