Key facts
- Meta has agreed to a settlement potentially worth $18 billion with US states over accusations of harming children.
- The settlement includes default measures such as a two-hour daily time limit and a midnight to 6 am block for users under 18.
- The UK government expects Meta to implement similar child safety protections in Britain.
- The UK plans to ban social media for under-16s by early 2027 and introduce default overnight curfews for older teens.
- Critics question the effectiveness of current UK regulations and call for more decisive action against social media harms.
The UK government is urging Meta, the parent company of Instagram, to implement the same child safety measures in Britain as those agreed upon in a recent $18 billion settlement with US states. Pat McFadden, the UK's Labour work and pensions secretary, stated that children in the UK should not have fewer protections than their US counterparts.
The US settlement includes measures such as a default two-hour daily time limit for users under 18, which can only be overridden by a parent, and a default block between midnight and 6 am. It also includes default blocks on notifications during school hours and at night. Some restrictions agreed in the US, like bans on under-18s displaying like counts or using cosmetic filters, have not been proposed in the UK.
Meta has called on TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar standards for teen social media use. McFadden confirmed that the UK plans to ban social media for children under 16 by early 2027 and will enforce default overnight curfews for 16- and 17-year-olds, addressing concerns about addiction and "endless scrolling."
Globally, several countries are introducing restrictions on children's social media access, including Indonesia, Malaysia, France, and Turkey. Nineteen other countries are reportedly considering similar measures.
The US settlement concluded a trial where Meta was accused of concealing internal research on Instagram's addictive nature for teenagers. Legal experts described the settlement as a sign of Meta's vulnerability and prompted calls for the UK government to strengthen its online safety regulations, with critics suggesting the current Online Safety Act has had limited impact. The Molly Rose Foundation, established by the father of a teenager who died after engaging with harmful social media content, urged the UK government to use this opportunity to reset online safety standards for children.
However, experts remain skeptical that the settlement's measures will fundamentally address the addictive design of social media platforms, noting that core engagement mechanisms like infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations will persist.