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Half of Social Media Child Protections Don't Work
29 Jun
Summary
- Study found over 50% of safety features on major platforms failed.
- Dummy accounts revealed adult access and harmful content suggestions.
- Social media companies face lawsuits and stricter regulations.
A new study has found that numerous safety features designed to protect children on popular social media platforms are ineffective. Researchers from New York University and Northeastern University tested 86 features across Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.
The analysis, published by Heat Initiative and Cybersafety Research Center, indicated that each platform had a failure rate of at least 50 percent for its advertised protective measures. These features were intended to prevent adult-to-child messaging and block underage accounts from accessing harmful content.
Researchers created dummy accounts to simulate various user scenarios, including natural usage, attempts to bypass features, and malicious adult activity. Findings showed adult accounts on Snapchat could message child accounts without restrictions. Instagram teen accounts could message unknown adults without warnings, and TikTok suggested anorexia-related content to teen accounts.
Despite these findings, spokespeople for Meta, Snap, and YouTube have contested the study's conclusions. However, a New York Times report indicated replication of the study's results. Beyond this study, social media firms are grappling with lawsuits and increasing governmental actions, such as Australia recently strengthening its ban on children using these platforms.
