Mark Zuckerberg announced on Instagram Tuesday that he is overhauling its child safety features, prompting online regulators to quickly respond in an effort to head off a threatened Congressional crackdown on the social media giant.

Instagram has announced that it will automatically classify users under the age of 18 into “teen accounts” and block people who don’t follow them from viewing their content or communicating with them.

Instagram app notifications for teen users will also be muted between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and “time limit reminders” will be sent urging teens to close the app after 60 minutes each day.

Parents can see which accounts their child has recently messaged, set daily time limits, and block teens from using the app for certain periods of time.

Additionally, users under the age of 16 require parental permission to make changes to their account security settings.

The overhaul was announced as the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act — a landmark bill that would impose a legal “duty of care” on Instagram parent company Meta, TikTok and other social media companies to protect children from online harm — gained momentum in Congress.

In July, the Senate passed KOSA and another bill called COPPA 2.0. This bill would prohibit targeted advertising to minors and the collection of data without their consent. It would also give parents and children the ability to delete their data from social media platforms. The vote was overwhelming (91-3).

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will discuss the bills on Wednesday, a key procedural step that will pave the way for a vote in the House floor in the near future.

Fairplay for Kids, one of the groups leading the fight for KOSA’s approval, criticized Meta’s announcement as an attempt to circumvent meaningful legal crackdowns.

“Private accounts for minors by default and turning off notifications in the middle of the night are safety measures that Meta should have implemented years ago,” said Josh Golin, CEO of Fairplay. “We hope lawmakers aren’t fooled by this attempt to thwart legislation.”

“The Kids Online Safety Act and COPPA 2.0 require companies like Meta to ensure their platforms are safe and privacy-protective for young people at all times, not just when it’s politically expedient,” Golin added.

Alix Fraser, director of the Council for Responsible Media, had a similar view of the announcement.

“The simple fact is that this announcement comes as pressure from Congress mounts and support for the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act continues to grow,” Fraser said. “This wouldn’t be the first time Meta made a promise to avoid Congressional action and then either never followed through or quietly backed away.”

Policymakers have criticized Meta for failing to protect children from sextortion fraud and other forms of online sexual abuse.

Critics accuse apps like Instagram of fueling a mental health crisis among young people, with negative consequences ranging from anxiety and depression to eating disorders and even self-harm.

Last fall, a coalition of attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Meta, alleging that the company used addictive features to entice children and increase profits at the expense of their mental health.

In January, Zuckerberg made a stunning apology to the families of victims of online abuse during a tense hearing on Capitol Hill.

Despite KOSA’s easy passage in the Senate, its ultimate prospects in the House of Representatives are uncertain. Some critics on both sides of the political spectrum worry about its impact on free speech online.

In July, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for the introduction of a tobacco-style warning label for social media apps to raise awareness of potential mental health risks, including depression and anxiety.