Meta Weighs Teen Social Media Limits in Japan as Debate Turns to App Design

Two hours a day enters Japan's social media debate

Meta is considering whether restrictions on children's use of Instagram and Facebook, including a daily limit of two hours announced for the United States in August, could eventually extend to Japan. Antigone Davis, the company's global head of safety, discussed that possibility at a briefing in Tokyo on October 21, as Japanese authorities consider stronger protections for minors.

The American measures described by Meta cover users aged 17 and younger. In Japan, Davis also expressed interest in a system requiring parental approval before children download apps, an approach already introduced in some American states. Neither a Japanese implementation date nor detailed rules for a daily limit were announced.

Davis described the question of usage restrictions as a matter for discussion with Japanese authorities:

It is a matter for consideration with the Japanese government.

Her comments bring together three decisions that would affect families differently: how long children can spend on social media, whether parents must approve an app before it reaches a child's phone, and whether services should change features that encourage continued viewing.

Japan's debate also involves protections already built into teen accounts. Meta described accounts for users aged 13 to 17 that are private by default and display a reminder to close the app after 60 minutes. Families would encounter a different level of restriction under a daily cap: a reminder asks a child to stop, while a usage limit restricts the time available.

What Meta is discussing with Japan

Davis met Japanese government officials and representatives of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party during her visit. Those meetings placed Meta's proposals before people involved in shaping national policy, although the specific discussions were not disclosed.

On parental approval for app downloads, Davis said:

We would like to consider introducing it in Japan.

Approval at the download stage would move a decision to the moment a child tries to obtain an app. By comparison, account privacy settings and usage reminders operate after a child has begun using a service. A family could therefore face several separate controls, each acting at a different point.

The distinction matters for parents deciding what permission means. Allowing an app onto a phone is one decision; deciding who can contact a child, what the child can see and how much time the child can spend there involves further choices. Davis's remarks suggest Meta wants Japanese policymakers to consider both access and the experience inside an app.

What teen accounts already change

Meta's Tokyo presentation described its Teen Account protections for users aged 13 to 17. Accounts are automatically set to private, limiting the audience for their posts rather than making them broadly visible by default.

A notice also prompts teenagers to close the app once their use exceeds 60 minutes. The proposed American daily limit of two hours is twice that reminder threshold. The figures refer to different interventions: one is a prompt after an hour, while the other is a proposed ceiling on daily use.

Davis said Meta was strengthening safeguards, including age verification. Checking a user's age is central to rules that depend on whether someone is 13, 15 or 17. A service needs an effective way to place users in the correct age group before it can reliably apply the relevant protections.

For Japanese families, the practical question is how existing account settings would fit alongside any new restrictions. Meta has outlined the policy topics it wants to discuss, but has not presented a complete Japanese system combining download approval, age checks and time limits.

Why infinite scrolling is under scrutiny

Davis also addressed infinite scrolling, the design that keeps presenting new material as someone moves down a feed. Unlike a page with a clear end, the feed can keep supplying videos or posts without asking the viewer to make a fresh decision to continue.

European and American debates have focused on the concern that this design encourages prolonged use. The issue is especially visible with short videos, where a small finger movement can bring up another clip immediately.

Davis argued that protecting children requires rules extending beyond Meta. On regulation of infinite scrolling, she said:

Children's safety cannot be protected unless the entire industry is regulated.

Her position would bring competing services into the same discussion. A rule applying across companies could address a feature wherever children encounter it, while a change made by Meta alone would affect only its own platforms.

Infinite scrolling also illustrates why a time limit and a design restriction address different parts of the problem. A daily cap sets the length of a session or total use. Changing a feed alters the experience during that time, including how easily a child encounters another reason to keep watching.

Personalization becomes a point of disagreement

Davis urged caution about proposals to ban personalization uniformly. Personalization means arranging or recommending material using information about a user, such as what that person watches, follows or interacts with.

A personalized feed can make a service more relevant to someone's interests. In the debate over children's safety, the same ability to select engaging material also puts recommendation systems under scrutiny because they help determine what keeps appearing on screen.

Meta's position draws a line between stronger protections for teenagers and a broad ban on tailoring their experience. Davis asked for careful consideration if regulators were contemplating a uniform prohibition on personalization.

Japanese policymakers therefore face more than a choice about daily minutes. They must also consider whether particular features should operate differently for minors and how those rules would interact with age verification. A restriction aimed at younger users depends on the service identifying those users accurately.

American cases put app features in focus

Legal developments in the United States have brought service design into the debate alongside harmful posts. In a California case in March, a Los Angeles jury reportedly ordered Meta and Google, YouTube's parent company, to pay $6 million in penalties over claims that design features contributed to a young user's dependency and psychological harm.

Meta and other social media platforms were also reported to have agreed in August to pay $17 billion to settle litigation brought by 47 American states accusing the platforms of being intentionally designed to be addictive to children. The measures described in connection with that settlement included limits on automatic video playback and displays of like counts, restrictions on use late at night, daily usage ceilings and stricter age verification.

Those measures concern how an app operates. Automatic playback starts another video without a separate choice; visible like counts display a numerical measure of audience approval. Restrictions on these features would change the experience even when the individual posts remain available.

Earlier arguments about social media safety often centered on removing or limiting harmful content, a task complicated by disputes over freedom of expression. Rules about playback, notifications and usage time address another part of the experience: the mechanisms that draw people back or keep them watching.

What the European proposal would require

The European Commission proposed the EU KIDS Act on September 17, 2026. It would prohibit social media access for children younger than 13, while allowing those aged 13 to under 15 to use mini accounts managed by a parent or guardian, with limited features and a daily limit of one hour. From age 15, children could open and manage their own social media accounts. Children younger than 13 could still use child-friendly video-sharing services through an account managed by a parent or guardian.

The proposal covers social media, video-sharing platforms, online games, and AI companions and chatbots. Mandatory safe design for accounts belonging to users younger than 18 would include limits on infinite scrolling, reward tricks and push notifications during sleeping hours. Services would prohibit unsolicited contact from strangers, make minors' profiles private by default and offer easy ways to block or mute other users.

AI chatbots and companions would be turned off by default and barred from behavior that makes children emotionally dependent on them. Online services and app stores would have to use privacy-protective age checks, with social media and video-sharing platforms required to verify age when accounts are opened. Providers of very large online platforms would have to demonstrate that their services are safe for children.

The proposal is not yet law. The European Parliament and the Council will examine it and negotiate the final text. The Commission also plans to propose a digital fairness act in the autumn to address addictive design.

How the policy discussion developed

The developments discussed in Tokyo span court action, company announcements and proposals for public regulation. They involve different authorities and different stages of decision making.

• March: A Los Angeles jury reportedly ordered Meta and Google to pay $6 million in penalties in a case concerning harm linked to service design.
• August: Meta announced American safety measures including a daily limit of two hours for users aged 17 and younger. Meta and other social media platforms also reportedly agreed that month to a $17 billion settlement with 47 American states over platforms allegedly designed to be addictive to children.
• September 17: The European Commission proposed the EU KIDS Act, barring social media access for children younger than 13 and allowing parent-managed mini accounts with limited features and a one-hour daily limit for those aged 13 to under 15.
• October 21: Davis presented teen protections in Tokyo and discussed possible Japanese restrictions, parental approval for downloads and regulation across the industry.

The European proposal combines age thresholds, parent-managed access and design safeguards, while the American measures described by Meta include restrictions on time spent using its services. Japan is considering protections for minors while hearing proposals that cover both access and app design.

For families, the difference is concrete. An age threshold determines when a child may join. Parental approval determines who authorizes access. A daily limit determines how long a child may stay, and design rules influence what happens during that time.

What a Japanese decision would change

A Japanese daily cap would make time management a formal part of access to Instagram and Facebook for the affected age group. Parental approval for downloads would give families an earlier decision point, before a child begins using an app.

Rules covering infinite scrolling or personalization would reach further into how services work. They would require policymakers to identify which features should change, which ages should receive different treatment and whether the same requirements should apply to competitors.

Meta's Tokyo presentation combined support for additional protections with caution about broad restrictions on personalization. Davis also called for responsibility across the industry. Japan's policy discussions now involve both the safeguards a company can introduce itself and requirements the government might apply more widely.

Key Points

• Meta's global head of safety, Antigone Davis, discussed possible Japanese restrictions at an October 21 briefing in Tokyo.
• The American measures announced in August include a daily limit of two hours for Instagram and Facebook users aged 17 and younger.
• Meta described teen accounts for ages 13 to 17 with private defaults and a reminder to close the app after 60 minutes.
• Davis expressed interest in parental approval for children's app downloads in Japan.
• She called for regulation of infinite scrolling across the industry and urged caution over uniform bans on personalization.
• A Los Angeles jury reportedly ordered Meta and Google to pay $6 million in penalties in March.
• Meta and other social media platforms reportedly agreed in August to pay $17 billion to settle litigation brought by 47 American states.
• The EU KIDS Act proposal would bar social media access for children younger than 13 and allow parent-managed mini accounts with a one-hour daily limit for those aged 13 to under 15; it still requires examination by the European Parliament and the Council.
• No Japanese implementation date or complete set of rules was announced.