The British government wants similar time limits for teenagers on Facebook and Instagram.
Meta’s new Instagram and Facebook under-18 policies – which it will enforce as part of a settlement in a high-profile child safety lawsuit – will only apply in the US as it stands. The measures include limits on how long 13- to 17-year-olds can use apps and reminders that they can switch to a non-algorithmic feed, which their parents or guardians can set as default.
A Meta spokesperson said Bloomberg he will monitor the changes. The company will continue discussions with other governments, the spokesperson added.
The UK government, for example, appears particularly interested in next steps in protecting teenagers, amid a global focus on social media safety for young users. The country is one of several that have pledged to ban social media for under-16s.
Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said the UK government expects Meta to apply the same rules there. “We don’t want a situation where young Americans have a higher rate of protection than young people in Britain,” McFadden said. News from the skyaccording to The Independent. “But we don’t rely on Meta. We do it ourselves.”
Meta agreed to measures aimed at settling dozens of states’ claims over children’s privacy and their addiction to social media. The company will pay states up to $18 billion and enforce policies such as a default two-hour time limit on Facebook and Instagram for those under 18 and a nightly blocking of apps (parents will be able to reduce these restrictions). Meta has pledged to make the deadlines stricter if TikTok and YouTube also join in – as things stand, it has only committed to these particular measures for five years.
Critics pointed out that Meta was trying to lead the charge on child safety measures and setting rules for other platforms and was doing so without admitting any wrongdoing (note that the company published its own research in 2021 indicating that Instagram was harmful to teens). Regardless, by only enforcing these measures in the United States, Meta is trying to have the cake and eat it too when it comes to balancing child safety and maintaining engagement levels on its platforms.
