Meta has announced a new feature that will enable Instagram users to refresh their recommended content on Explore, Reels and within their feed by resetting their content suggestions within the settings page. At the same time, users will also be prompted to review the accounts that they follow.
Oliver Wannell outlines Meta’s latest safety proposal alongside the government’s priorities for online safety.
Although intended to be available for everyone, Meta has targeted this feature as a Teen Account safety feature, enabling teenagers and their parents to have better control over the content they see. This comes after considerable public concern that young people are increasingly exposed to harmful material and radical views as algorithms push similar material to the front of their feed.
The government has also shown an increased willingness to tackle digital insecurity, and to ensure that tech giants like Meta do their part in keeping people safe online. In a Draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for online safety published the same day as Meta’s announcement, the Technology Secretary Peter Kyle outlined five priorities for online safety:
- Safety by design – embedding safety features into the design of new technologies to keep all users, especially children, safe, to tackle violence against women and girls, and to eliminate online “safe havens” for illegal content and activity.
- Transparency and accountability – ensuring transparency and accountability within the technology industry on delivering online safety outcomes and improving trust between systems and users.
- Agile regulation – delivering an agile regulatory framework to monitor and tackle emerging harms, including GenAI.
- Inclusivity and resilience – creating an inclusive and informed digital society that can resist disinformation and
- Technology and innovation – fostering innovative methods of improving safety online.
The Draft Statement is made under the relatively new powers contained in the Online Safety Act 2023 (the Act) that enable the government to set out priorities connected to Ofcom’s online safety functions and which Ofcom must have regard to when exercising its regulatory functions on online safety.
As the independent regulator, it is for Ofcom to determine how to respond to the government’s priorities, but the Draft Statement is clear that the government expects positive outcomes “at pace”. Where this cannot be achieved under the existing regulatory framework, the government will consider new legislation to further empower Ofcom to act.
Meta’s plans to develop new safety features, particularly for younger users, is timely – not only as it coincides with the Draft Statement, but it is increasingly apparent that the Labour Government intends to be more “hands on” with tech regulation than the previous governments. Earlier in the year, in the King’s Speech, the government announced plans to introduce new legislation to regulate AI – something that the previous government rejected in the short term in favour of allowing greater flexibility within the market.
Balancing the need for flexibility with the need for regulation (the innovation vs safety conundrum) has been a central challenge to regulating the technology sector over the last decade, particularly as emerging technologies are increasingly AI driven. It is clear from recent announcements that, although tech innovation is still a top priority, the government is taking digital safety seriously and, in all likelihood many more companies will need to follow Meta’s lead in taking positive steps to promote safe use.
How can we help?
For more information or advice on Meta’s proposal or government guidelines for online safety, please get in touch with Carrie Jones or Oliver Wannell in our Commercial Disputes team who will be able to support you.
