The UK government expects the Instagram owner Meta to roll out the same protections for children in Britain as those it agreed in the US on Wednesday, as part of a court settlement that could cost the company up to $18bn (£13bn).
Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said on Thursday he did not want young people in the US to have “a higher rate of protection” than those in Britain, after Meta settled a lawsuit brought by dozens of US states accusing the company of harming children with dangerous products.
As well as the payouts, Meta agreed to a default daily time limit of two hours for users under 18 that can be lifted only by a parent – a measure not currently proposed under plans to ban social media for under-16s in the UK – and a default block between midnight and 6am for under-18s, as well as default blocks on user notifications at night and during the school day.
Analysts have pointed out the measures largely fall within the bounds of changes Meta has already been required to make elsewhere. But restrictions agreed by Meta in the US that have not been proposed in the UK include bans on under-18s displaying numbers of likes or reactions and on cosmetic procedure image filters.
Meta has urged TikTok and YouTube to adopt the same standards “to ensure teens use social media in a healthy and responsible way”.
Asked on Sky News whether he expected Meta to roll out the new safety features in the UK, McFadden said: “Yes, we would. We don’t want a situation where young people in America have got a higher rate of protection than young people in the UK.”
In June, Keir Starmer’s government announced an Australia-style ban on social media for children under 16 would come into force by early 2027. It also said in July that default overnight curfews from midnight to 6am would be switched on for 16- and 17-year-olds using social media apps, while features designed to keep users scrolling for longer would be switched off by default.
McFadden said the social media ban for young people would come into force next year, confirmed the overnight curfews and added: “We’ve got to do something about this endless scrolling, which is so addictive for young people.”
Countries around the world are beginning to restrict children’s access to social media amid rising concern about harms. In March, Indonesia began blocking children under 16 from accessing most social media. Malaysia followed suit in June. France passed a law banning social media access for under-15s in July, while Turkey passed a bill with similar restrictions. Bans or limits are being considered by 19 other countries, according to the Tech Policy Press non-profit organisation.
The Meta settlement announced on Wednesday cut short a trial in Oakland, California, in which lawyers for 29 US states accused Meta of covering up internal research showing that Instagram was addictive for teenagers. Legal experts, including James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell University, described the settlement as “a sign of vulnerability on Meta’s part”. It also prompted calls for the UK government to tighten its grip on social media companies after critics said the 2023 Online Safety Act, enforced by Ofcom, had had limited effect.
The Molly Rose Foundation, set up by the father of Molly Russell, who took her own life in 2017 after falling into a vortex of despair on social media, called on the UK government to “seize this opportunity to deliver a reset to children’s online safety”.
“Andy Burnham has now seen that it is possible to take on big tech to address drivers of online harm,” a spokesperson said. “It’s time for the UK government to be brave, bold and decisive in ways it hasn’t been before.”
Munira Wilson, who leads on children and families for the Liberal Democrats, said: “If a US court can pressure Meta into making significant changes to its platforms, why is our government still relying on optional curfews, strongly worded statements and unworkable bans?”
Meanwhile, experts were sceptical that Meta’s agreed measures would tackle the underlying problems with the compulsive – some say addictive – app design that critics blame for social media harms.
Dr Rachael Kent, a senior lecturer in digital economy and society education at King’s College London, said the settlement “does not fundamentally redesign the engagement-driven model. Some of the measures being introduced do not remove many of the underlying engagement mechanisms altogether – infinite scroll, autoplay and algorithmic recommendation remain – but introduce limits and stopping points around them.”
