The United Nations has called for sweeping reforms across the social media industry, saying platforms should adopt stronger safeguards to protect children rather than waiting for lawsuits or individual companies to act.
Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the call following Meta’s agreement to pay up to $18 billion to settle claims brought by 48 US states, the District of Columbia and three US territories over alleged harm to children on its platforms.
Under the settlement, Meta has agreed to introduce additional child-safety measures, including daily time limits, night mode and stronger age-assurance systems.
Türk said the proposed changes were consistent with recommendations from his office but warned that much more needed to be done across the industry.
“Children should not have to wait for a lawsuit to be safe online,” he said, urging governments to “step up rather than wait for courts and companies to act”.
The UN official said all social media platforms should be designed with children’s safety in mind, rather than leaving individual companies to determine the level of protection provided to young users.
In May, Türk’s office released a 10-point framework for regulating social media, setting out measures aimed at making online platforms safer and more accountable.
The framework called for stronger protection of users’ personal data, safer platform design and improved methods of verifying users’ ages.
It also urged platforms to avoid design features that could encourage addictive use, particularly among children.
However, the UN framework stopped short of supporting blanket bans on children using social media, arguing instead for regulation and safer digital environments.
The Meta settlement has also increased pressure on other major social media platforms to adopt similar safeguards.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office was involved in the lawsuit against Meta, said he was seeking to ensure that platforms including TikTok and YouTube introduced comparable protections.
Meta itself has argued that its new measures would be most effective if other major platforms adopted them as well.
Bonta said he was interested in discussions with TikTok and YouTube and had also communicated with Snap, another platform popular among younger users.
He warned that authorities could take further action if companies failed to voluntarily introduce measures similar to those agreed by Meta.
