The UK government is urging Meta to extend the same safety measures for British children as those recently negotiated in the United States, following a significant legal settlement. This agreement in the US, which could potentially cost Meta up to $18 billion, mandates the company to implement default safeguards for users under 18 years old. These safeguards include a daily screen time limit of two hours, which can only be exceeded with parental consent, as well as overnight restrictions and reduced notifications during nighttime and school hours.
In response, UK officials have emphasized that children in Britain should not be afforded lesser protection compared to their American counterparts. The UK government is actively working on introducing new restrictions aimed at safeguarding children’s social media use. Plans are in motion to prohibit children under 16 from accessing certain platforms and to establish overnight curfews for teenage users.
The legal settlement in the US has amplified demands for more stringent regulations on social media companies, with advocates calling for decisive actions against features that promote excessive usage. There is a growing consensus that these platforms need to be held accountable for the tools they employ to keep users engaged, which could potentially harm young users.
Nonetheless, some experts caution that merely imposing time limits and curfews might not sufficiently tackle the broader issues. They argue that engagement-driven elements like infinite scrolling, autoplay, and algorithmic content recommendations also need to be addressed, as these features are designed to maximize user interaction and can contribute to unhealthy usage patterns.