UN calls for social media regulations following Meta settlement

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has called for uniform regulations across all social media platforms to protect children. This follows a major settlement in the United States involving Meta, where the company agreed to pay up to $17 billion and implement new restrictions for adolescents on Instagram and Facebook across approximately 50 states and territories.

A separate agreement with Texas added over $1 billion to the total, bringing the combined settlements to more than $18 billion. While Türk described Meta’s new measures as being ‘in the right direction,’ he emphasized that governments must take the initiative to implement safety-based approaches across the entire technology sector rather than waiting for legal action or court rulings.

Türk argued that age restrictions alone are insufficient to address issues stemming from social media business models and algorithms. He urged tech companies to implement ‘safety by design,’ ensuring that children’s data is automatically protected at the highest level and prohibiting the micro-targeting of minors for commercial purposes.