UN Urges Tech Firms to Make Social Media Safer for Children -

The United Nations has urged social media companies to adopt safer designs for children after Meta agreed to impose restrictions on teenage use of Facebook and Instagram in some US states as part of a major legal settlement.

Meta agreed to pay up to $16.7 billion to a coalition of US states and introduce measures limiting teen access to its platforms, according to a court filing that ended a landmark trial in California. The settlement followed allegations that Meta had deliberately designed its platforms to keep young users engaged, misled the public about potential risks and unlawfully collected data from children under 13.

Texas reached a separate agreement with Meta, bringing the total potential payout to about $18 billion.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk welcomed the changes but said children should not have to rely on lawsuits to be protected online. He called for safer design standards to be applied across the social media industry and urged governments to strengthen regulation and oversight.

Turk has previously warned that age restrictions alone would not address the underlying platform designs and algorithms that could expose children to harm. In May, he called for stronger measures covering platform design, data protection, regulation, monitoring and accountability.

The UN rights office has also issued 10 guidelines for improving children’s online safety. These include making maximum protection of children’s data the default and prohibiting commercial micro-targeting based on children’s digital profiles. The guidelines also highlight concerns surrounding artificial intelligence chatbots and features designed to encourage excessive use.

Peggy Hicks, a director at the UN human rights office, said technology companies must either change how their platforms operate to better protect children or face increasingly strict legislation, court rulings and regulatory penalties.

The European Union is also pressing Meta to address potentially addictive features. The European Commission recently found the company in breach of the Digital Services Act and ordered it to propose measures to make its platforms safer for children.

EU officials said Brussels has held further discussions with Meta since the US settlement and is closely monitoring the company’s response. – ERMD

READ MORE