Meta agrees to teen safety measures in the US
In the United States, Meta reached a settlement with 52 state and territorial attorneys general in cases concerning claims of possible harm from the company’s products to children. The agreement provides for new safety settings for teenagers and payments of about $18 billion for youth online safety, digital well-being and mental health initiatives, TimesLIVE reports. Meta denies wrongdoing and does not admit legal liability.
Restrictions for teenagers
The measures include a two-hour daily usage limit, which a teenager will be able to disable only with parental permission. Default settings will also mute notifications during school hours, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Night mode is intended to block teenagers from publishing posts and viewing the feed, stories, Explore and Reels from midnight to 6:00 a.m. The agreement also provides an option to choose a feed without personalization by recommendation systems.
Meta must introduce age verification and content age restrictions, including removing accounts of users below the permitted age and preventing teenagers from following or interacting with accounts inappropriate for their age. The company must also make improper searching, following and interaction between adults and teenagers more difficult, simplify the submission of complaints about harmful content and speed up responses to them.
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Payments and compliance monitoring
The funds will be paid annually over ten years. States and territories participating in the settlement are to receive approximately 70% of the amount, or $12.7 billion. The remaining approximately $5.3 billion will be allocated after YouTube and TikTok introduce some of the new protection measures and pay an amount corresponding to this part of the payment.
Under the agreement, an independent social media research foundation is planned to be established to study adolescent well-being. Meta will provide it with user data with their consent. An independent auditor will annually verify compliance with the agreement’s terms for five years and report to the states.
Potential significance for Africa
TimesLIVE author Mashilo Boloka notes that the agreement legally applies only in the United States but may influence international platform safety standards. In his view, African countries with clear laws and active regulators will have more opportunities to secure similar commitments from technology companies. Without effective regulation and oversight, Boloka believes, the protection of young users on the continent will depend on voluntary decisions by platforms.
