The UK government is urging Meta to implement safety measures for British children that align with those recently established in the United States. This follows a significant legal settlement in the US that could potentially cost Meta up to $18 billion. As a result of the settlement, Meta has agreed to introduce default safeguards for users under the age of 18, which includes a daily time limit of two hours that can only be extended with parental consent. Additional measures involve restricting access during late hours and limiting notifications throughout the night and during school hours.
Officials in the UK maintain that British youths should not experience a lesser degree of protection compared to their American counterparts. In response, the UK government is in the process of devising new regulations aimed at controlling social media access for minors. Among these proposals are plans to prohibit under-16s from using certain platforms and to enforce nighttime curfews for teenage users.
The US settlement has sparked renewed demands for more robust regulation of social media companies and has intensified scrutiny of digital features that are designed to promote excessive use. There is a growing call for social media platforms to bear greater accountability for user engagement practices that may be harmful, particularly to young people.
However, some experts contend that merely imposing time limits and curfews may not sufficiently tackle the underlying issues related to engagement-driven technologies such as infinite scrolling, autoplay features, and algorithm-based recommendations. These tools are often designed to captivate users for extended periods, raising concerns about their impact on mental health and well-being, particularly among adolescents.