All news on the topic: Child Safety

Meta will pay out a whopping $17 billion in a landmark trial that will see the social media giant impose stricter limits on kids using its platforms.

Meta, the social media giant behind Facebook and Instagram, will pay up to $16.68bn (£12.26bn) to settle its landmark child safety social media case.

A former engineering director at Meta said CEO Mark Zuckerberg fostered a culture that treated child safety as secondary to growth and engagement on Facebook and Instagram.

A jury will decide whether or not Meta designed its apps to “hook the users, hold them for as long as they can, harvest their data and hide the truth from the public"

Cases of predators coercing children into producing sexual photos and videos of themselves have surged globally in the past year, a cruel phenomenon known as “sadistic online exploitation”, child safety experts and law enforcement officials warn.

Ofcom has launched an investigation into the social media platform TikTok over harmful content concerns.

Restricting access to certain AI features by age could fail to address deeper issues like addictive design patterns, emotional reliance, and the risks posed by smaller, less-regulated apps.

The social media ban for under-16s is not a “silver bullet”, the Technology Secretary acknowledged as she faced a backlash from firms which will be hit by the restriction.

Britain’s plans to ban social media for under-16s will push teenagers towards more harmful platforms, the world’s biggest technology companies have said as ministers push to enact the new restrictions by next spring.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said social media firms “had their chance” to self-regulate as new data reveals that thousands of criminal offenses have been linked to Snapchat in the last five years.

On April 13, the video game platform Roblox announced it will create customized accounts for young users to enhance online safety, as it faces intense global scrutiny over child endangerment concerns.

In the Mediterranean port city of Marseille three youths aged 15 to 17 were killed in 2025 in cases linked to drug trafficking.

Meta’s second major trial of 2026 over alleged harms to children begins on Monday.