The safety adjustment addresses persistent concerns over minor usage on the image-sharing platform, which remains one of the most popular digital destinations for British youth. Regulators are actively monitoring the rollout of the restricted default settings throughout the month to ensure compliance. British authorities have underscored their scrutiny by highlighting that nearly a third of local children aged 8 to 12 access the service despite its age limits. Non-compliant firms face regulatory enforcement actions that include substantial corporate fines tied directly to their worldwide turnover.
Key points
Snapchat pledged to introduce functional age-verification checks for all users under 18 b…: Snapchat pledged to introduce functional age-verification checks for all users under 18 by the end of the current year.
Regulators will actively supervise the implementation of the restricted contact settings…: Regulators will actively supervise the implementation of the restricted contact settings throughout the month of its deployment.
The default restriction limits the discovery tools that previously allowed outside strang…: The default restriction limits the discovery tools that previously allowed outside strangers to identify and contact underage accounts.
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LONDON, Nov 6 : British media regulator Ofcom said on Friday that Snapchat had begun disabling its "Find Friends" feature by default for child users in Britain, in what it called an important step to reduce the risk of online grooming.
The friend-discovery feature helps users find and add new contacts.
Ofcom said the change would make it harder for strangers to contact children on the image-sharing social media platform, one it considers among the largest and most popular online services used by children in Britain.
The regulator said in May that Snapchat was used by 32 per cent of children aged 8 to 12 in Britain, despite the platform's minimum age restriction of 13.
Oliver Griffiths, director of Ofcom's Online Safety Group, said the change was "long overdue" and the regulator would monitor Snapchat's rollout of the new protection this month.
Snapchat had committed to make such a change in May, and told the regulator more recently that effective age checks for under 18s should be in place by the end of the year.
The e-commerce giant is advancing its conversational retail capabilities by allowing domestic shoppers to interact with its digital assistant via direct messaging. This AI tool lets users research items, monitor discounts, and finalize orders inside chat threads. The strategic expansion arrives as the retailer actively works to safeguard its proprietary ecosystem by legally challenging and blocking third-party artificial intelligence agents from accessing its marketplace.
European Commission regulators have accused the video-sharing platform of breaching the Digital Services Act by deploying an algorithm that traps users in harmful feedback loops. Officials determined that current safeguards fail to curb endless exposure to damaging content regarding isolation and body image. To avoid severe regulatory penalties, the company must now overhaul its recommendation systems to prioritize user well-being, especially for minors.
European Union regulators determined that the Chinese-owned video platform pushes users into engagement-driven loops of content regarding body image and isolation. The preliminary finding directly targets the app's core design of maximizing screen time for 189 million European users. Officials warn that the cumulative exposure to such material exacerbates conditions like anxiety and eating disorders.