Main points
- Instagram, Snapchat and Roblox are introducing new child protection mechanisms after pressure from British regulator Ofcom.
- TikTok and YouTube have been criticized for insufficient security measures, despite the high prevalence of harmful content among young people.
British regulator forced social networks to change rules for children – not everyone agreed / Unsplash / Adem AY
Big tech companies have begun reviewing their approaches to child safety online after pressure from the UK regulator Ofcom. Some platforms have already agreed to major changes, but some popular services remain under fire.
British regulator Ofcom has secured new commitments from several major online platforms to protect children from unsafe contacts, online grooming and harmful content. The biggest changes were announced by Snapchat, Instagram and Roblox . Digital trends reports.
How are social networks changing the rules for minors?
Snap, which owns Snapchat , has gone particularly far, agreeing to implement all of Ofcom’s recommended safeguards against grooming – situations where adults contact children for the purpose of manipulation or sexual exploitation.
After the changes , adult strangers will no longer be able to contact minors by default. The platform will also stop actively pushing children to expand their friend lists with strangers.
Additionally, Snapchat plans to implement age verification for all users in the UK this summer, in order to automatically apply special protections to users under 18.
Roblox has also agreed to new measures . Parents will be able to completely disable private messages for users under 16.
Meanwhile, Meta is working on new safety features for Instagram. The company plans to hide teen contact lists and use artificial intelligence tools to detect suspicious conversations between adults and minors.
Ofcom sees these changes as an important step, as social platforms have been criticized for years for their weak protection of children and adolescents.
Why are TikTok and YouTube among the top problems?
Amid new promises from competitors , TikTok and YouTube have received harsh criticism from the British regulator.
According to Ofcom research, almost 75% of children aged 11 to 17 were exposed to harmful content in the past four weeks, with more than a third of these exposures occurring while viewing algorithmic recommendation feeds.
TikTok and YouTube were among the platforms where such content was most prevalent. However, both companies have not agreed to major new changes to improve the security of their feeds.
The platforms themselves claim that their recommendation systems are already safe enough for children. However, Ofcom has actually questioned this.
Ofcom has highlighted the fact that younger children continue to easily circumvent current age verification systems. According to the regulator’s research, 84% of children aged 8 to 12 use at least one social media platform or service, despite age restrictions.
Ofcom believes that current age verification mechanisms are not working effectively enough. The regulator has already called on the British government to consider tougher legislation that would give more powers to monitor platforms.
Ofcom also presented a five-step action plan for monitoring the new rules and possible punishment of companies that fail to comply.
Regulators are increasingly putting pressure on Big Tech
Pressure on big tech companies to protect children has been mounting in many countries in recent years, driven by the rapid growth of social media's influence on children and adolescents, as well as regular scandals surrounding harmful content, online bullying, and dangerous algorithm recommendations.
The article argues that child safety should not be an issue that companies address only after regulators step in. The author notes that tech giants have been underreacting to these issues for years and are only now starting to implement stronger protections.