Florida is asking a state judge to force Meta to lock Facebook and Instagram users under 14 out of the platforms entirely unless the company builds working age-verification tools within 30 days. The request, filed as a motion for a temporary injunction in Pasco County Circuit Court, also seeks mandatory quiet hours, strict monthly screen-time caps, and limits on what teens can see while using the apps.
According to Reuters, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is asking the court to require Meta to identify and remove Florida users under age 14 from Instagram and Facebook, limit teens to two hours of access per day across Facebook and Instagram, and turn off autoplay and infinite scroll features for teen accounts. Florida wants those changes imposed immediately and kept in place while its broader lawsuit against Meta continues, per the same report. As The Capitolist reports, the filing asks the judge to give Meta just 30 days to implement age verification or face a complete blackout of under-14 users in Florida until those protections are active.
Internal Chats Compare Instagram to a Narcotic
Florida's filing leans heavily on internal Meta communications unearthed during litigation. Per Cryptopolitan, the state cited employee chat logs in which one worker wrote “IG is a drug” and another described company staff as “basically pushers,” messages Florida is using to argue Meta knowingly engineered its platforms to hook young users. The underlying lawsuit, filed in Pasco County Circuit Court in December 2024 by then-Attorney General Ashley Moody, accuses Meta of violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by misleading consumers about platform safety, according to WFSU News.
The proposed restrictions go well beyond basic parental controls. The same Cryptopolitan report details a mandatory quiet mode blocking teen access from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. daily and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on school weekdays, a cumulative 60-hour monthly screen-time cap, and a requirement to hide like and comment counts by default unless parents opt in. Reuters reports the filing also seeks to cut off teens' messaging access once their time limits are reached and to bar Meta from showing advertisements to teen users altogether.
Why Florida Walked Away From a Multibillion-Dollar Settlement
Meta reached settlements with 48 states and Washington, D.C. in August, agreeing to pay up to $18 billion and make platform changes for teen users while denying any wrongdoing, Reuters reports. Under that deal, outlined by TechPolicy.Press, Meta agreed to a 2-hour default daily limit for users under 18 adjustable only by parents, midnight-to-6 a.m. access blocks, non-personalized feeds, and a ban on push notifications during school hours. Individual state payouts under the $17.1 billion settlement run as high as $2.1 billion for California, $525 million for New Jersey, $366 million for Massachusetts and $353 million for Virginia over 10 years, according to PBS NewsHour.
Uthmeier opted out of that settlement and pressed forward with Florida's own lawsuit instead, calling the deal a mere slap on the wrist, Reuters reports. Florida's filing argues that because Meta already agreed to similar changes nationally, the restrictions it now seeks in Pasco County are technically feasible — not an unreasonable burden on the company.
Meta Pushes Back, Points Fingers at Rivals
A general appeal has also been made for YouTube and TikTok to adopt similar measures. The company has settled similar claims with nearly every other state and maintains it works to keep teens safe on its platforms.
The fight in Pasco County unfolds alongside Florida's separate legislative push. Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 3 in March 2024, prohibiting children under 14 from opening social media accounts and requiring parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds, backed by civil penalties of up to $50,000 per violation under state consumer protection law, according to the Harvard Law Review. An appeals-court panel stayed a federal judge's injunction, letting the state enforce HB 3 while constitutional challenges continue, WFSU News reported.
Part of a Broader Legal Reckoning for Social Media
Florida's gambit also fits into a wider pattern of states testing new legal theories against tech platforms. A New Mexico jury found Meta liable on September 25, 2026, for more than 43 million consumer-protection violations, and the state sought a maximum penalty that could exceed $200 billion.
Whether a single Pasco County judge can order a global company to rebuild its core features for one state's users, or whether Meta succeeds in arguing the demands are unworkable or premature, now sits with the court as the broader case moves toward trial.
