Meta acts on teen safety, but questions remain

Meta has agreed to introduce major new safeguards for under-18 users of Facebook and Instagram across most US states and territories, including a two-hour daily usage limit, overnight access restrictions, age assurance measures, school-hour notification blocks, hidden “likes”, and expanded parental controls. The changes form part of a landmark settlement over concerns about social media's impact on young people. 

But will limiting screen time meaningfully reduce the harms associated with social media? 

Dr Gordon Ingram, a cyberpsychologist and senior lecturer in Psychology at RMIT University Vietnam, says the measures are a positive step but leave important questions unanswered. 

The following quotes are attributable to Dr Gordon Ingram: 

“These changes are welcome because they could help prevent social media use from interfering with other areas of a teenager’s life. Better age restrictions and parental controls can also help reduce inappropriate contact and exposure to harmful content. 

“How easy will it be for teenagers to get around these restrictions, and who will ultimately be responsible for enforcing them: the platforms or parents?

“Many researchers would argue that it is not the amount of time spent on social media that is the biggest problem. Rather, it is the various problematic ways in which social media can be used. An important question is whether algorithms could be used more positively to steer young users away from harmful usage patterns. 

“I would like to see less emphasis on age restrictions alone and more discussion around a digital duty of care, where platforms take responsibility for protecting all users, not just minors, from harmful digital effects. 

“While these changes currently apply only in the United States, multinational technology companies often prefer to deploy the same solutions across markets. That means similar measures could eventually be introduced in Vietnam. 

“Vietnam’s government and people can help by putting pressure on companies like TikTok to follow Meta’s lead – especially since TikTok has a much larger user base among Vietnamese young people than Instagram does. In turn, this could encourage Meta to adopt even stricter standards, as they have promised. 

“Ideally, technology companies should compete over who can offer the safest and most caring user experience, rather than who can create the most addictive platform.”