Meta’s move to restrict teenagers’ use of social media in the U.S. shows companies have tools to better protect young people online, Australian officials said on Thursday, while in the Philippines, an official said the U.S. company had pledged to boost protection there too.
Meta’s up to $18 billion settlement with nearly all U.S. states over social media harm to teenagers has opened a new front in a global government fight to protect children and curb addiction to platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Governments around the world are trying to curb children’s access to harmful online content, including a world-first ban in Australia late last year on social media for children under 16.
Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells said in an email to Reuters that social media companies “have the tools at their disposal to protect young people from their addictive features but have chosen not to use them.”
Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion over a decade and limit how teenagers use Facebook and Instagram under an agreement with nearly all U.S. states to resolve claims that it designed those platforms to addict children. Meta denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
The deal brings sweeping changes to Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms in the United States, including imposing a default two-hour limit on its apps for users under the age of 18.
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In South Korea, the media regulator said some of Meta’s measures should be applied to young users worldwide, rather than just in specific markets. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum said the government needed to review its potential impact for Mexico.
There were some early signs that the settlement could help other countries win similar measures. Philippines Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda told Reuters that both Meta and gaming platform Roblox had pledged in a meeting on Thursday to tighten age verification processes in the country, as well as expand parental controls and implement time limits on the social media.
Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority said Meta has indicated it would request an opportunity to discuss children’s safety online with the country’s data privacy regulator.
A spokesperson for the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office said the agency was contacting Meta following the settlement.
The European Commission said it was waiting for Meta to present changes to limit the addictive designs of its social networks.
The Commission already issued preliminary findings earlier this year that Meta breached the Digital Services Act (DSA).
In July, it said Facebook and Instagram should disable autoplay and endless scrolling by default, introduce screen-time breaks and change recommendation systems to reduce incentives to keep users engaged — measures that go beyond the U.S. settlement.