The UK government is urging Meta to extend the same safety measures for children in Britain that it has agreed to implement in the United States, following a significant legal settlement that could cost the tech giant up to $18 billion. In the American settlement, Meta committed to enforcing default protections for users under 18, which include a two-hour daily usage limit unless extended with parental consent. Additional restrictions involve limiting overnight access and reducing notifications during nighttime and school hours.
Officials in the UK stress that British children should not have less protection than their American counterparts. In line with this, the UK government is drafting new regulations aimed at restricting social media usage among children. This includes proposals to prevent under-16s from accessing certain platforms and instituting nighttime curfews for teenage users.
The settlement in the US has intensified demands for more robust regulation of social media platforms and increased measures against features designed to promote excessive use. There is a growing call for platforms to be held accountable for the addictive elements in their design, which are believed to contribute to prolonged screen time among young users.
However, some experts caution that while time limits and curfews are steps in the right direction, they may not fully address the deeper issues posed by engagement-driven features. These include infinite scrolling, autoplay functions, and algorithmic recommendations, which are designed to keep users engaged longer than intended.