How Meta Is Working to Provide Safe Experiences for Teens

At the first-ever Meta Summit focused on Youth Safety and Well-Being held last month, the company highlighted the tools it has developed to support teens on its apps.

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At the Summit, Meta’s President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg called for global regulators to work together and help facilitate safe, positive online experiences for teens.

“I think everybody has a role,” Nick said. “Social media companies have a role, families have a role, parents have a role, governments have a role, regulators have a role,” he continued.

The company execs highlighted how Meta hasn’t waited for regulation to continue making progress on its apps.

Over the past several years, Meta has taken some significant steps, including:

  • Developing parental controls that help parents and teens navigate their time online together
  • Using age verification technology to help teens have age-appropriate experiences
  • Defaulting teens into more private settings
  • Removing more content that violates our policies and making potentially sensitive content more difficult to find
  • Helping to protect teens against unwanted interactions
  • Offering tools for teens to spend more meaningful time online

For youth specifically, the company has called for an industry body to address at least three key challenges:

  1. How to verify age: so that young children can’t access apps not made for them and that teens can have consistent, age-appropriate experiences
  2. How to provide age-appropriate experiences: so that teens can expect similarly safe experiences across all apps that are tailored to their age and life-stage
  3. How to build parental controls: so that parents and guardians have the tools to navigate online experiences for their teens together

Meta says it will continue working with other tech companies so teens can expect online experiences that are safe and supportive across the internet.

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