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The boss of Snapchat-parent Snap Inc says the firm would be “willing to implement” time limits for teens, following a call from Meta for it to take action.<\/b><\/p>\n
Evan Spiegel told the BBC in an interview at the company’s California headquarters that setting a maximum amount of time that young users could spend on the app could be “an important step forward for the industry.” <\/b><\/p>\n
His comments came as Snap revealed a slew of new features for its upcoming Specs glasses, which it said could connect to Apple iPhone and Mac devices.<\/p>\n
Meta has been pressuring other social media companies to join it in making platform changes it agreed to as part of a recent multi-billion dollar legal settlement with US states.<\/p>\n
Instagram and Facebook-parent Meta was facing allegations from Attorneys General for most US states who said the firm deliberately designed its apps to be addictive to young users.<\/p>\n
It agreed to pay $12.7bn and implement a two-hour daily limit for teen users across its platforms by default, in addition to muted notifications during school hours, blocks at night and other measures.<\/p>\n
“I think it is an important step forward in the industry in terms of really identifying industry norms, and I think that would be beneficial overall,” Spiegel told the BBC. “We’ve looked really thoughtfully at the terms.”<\/p>\n
As part of Meta’s August settlement<\/a>, the company said it would implement even more stringent time limits and pay an additional $5.3bn if YouTube and TikTok follow suit. It has denied any wrongdoing as part of the deal, which will be paid over a 10-year period.<\/p>\n Last month, a Meta spokesperson said it was hopeful that Snap would make similar platform changes as well.<\/p>\n Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap have all faced a barrage of litigation<\/a> alleging their apps have helped spawn a youth mental health crisis. Snap has also been accused <\/a>of facilitating illegal drug sales.<\/p>\n When asked about the idea of a default time limit, Spiegel said: “I think that’s a really good example of something that that we’d be willing to implement.”<\/p>\n But Spiegel did not commit to a timeline on when Snap might take action. <\/p>\n “That’s something we’ve talked about internally,” he said. “I don’t have more to share today.”<\/p>\n He noted that Snap offers tools through its Family Center feature, which currently enables parents to track aspects of how their teens are using Snapchat.<\/p>\n “We want to figure out how we can be part of the solution,” Spiegel added.<\/p>\n YouTube-parent Google said it had no comment when asked if it planned to implement the measures in Meta’s settlement. TikTok did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n