Snapchat owner Snap Inc. intends to take responsibility for the user experience in its app, including in the context of ensuring the safety of children.
A statement of the relevant content was made last Thursday, May 9, by Evan Spiegel, co-founder and chief executive officer of the specified company.
Recently, Snapchat and other social media platforms, including Facebook, Discord, and TikTok, have faced increased attention from parents of underage users and lawmakers. In this case, the main question was the issue of the degree of impact of the mentioned apps on children. So far, in the context of discussing the corresponding topic, there is no consensus on what strategy should be applied so that minor users of social media platforms do not suffer harm, primarily moral. There is an opinion that ensuring the safety of children should be the responsibility of companies that own the specified platforms. At the same time, some participants in the discussion argue that parents should make sure that minors do not find themselves in a zone of harmful influence when interacting with virtual space. Another opinion provides that device manufacturers themselves, including, for example, Apple, should become guarantors of children’s safety on the Internet.
Evan Spiegel says that his company, in the context of the mentioned issue, is focused on finding out the extent of its capabilities to prevent harmful effects on underage users. According to him, Snap wants to take responsibility for the experience it provides to its community.
Evan Spiegel says that Snapchat intends to connect users with people they know in the real world. In this context, he also separately noted that the mentioned social media platform does not have a public-facing likes function and is private by default.
According to Evan Spiegel, as part of the responsibility for ensuring the safety of underage Internet users, the task of parents is to explain to children how important traditionally offline communication with people is and to focus on the significance of social connections in the real world. He noted that Snapchat has always paid special attention to communication between family and friends. Also, this social media platform strives to make the relevant experience really fast, fun, and visual.
This year, Evan Spiegel, along with the CEOs of Meta, X, Discord, and TikTok, testified before the United States Congress on the issue of ensuring a high level of safety for children on the Internet. It is worth noting that Snap is the only social media company that supports the Kids Online Safety Act.
Recently, owners of social media platforms have also often faced complaints about their user data handling practices. In April, lawmakers passed a law banning TikTok in the United States unless the parent company of the brand, which is Chinese ByteDance Ltd., sells the app to a US firm. Evan Spiegel says that the government should develop a larger system to address national security issues. In this context, he also noted separately that many US companies cooperate with Chinese firms.
As we have reported earlier, Snapchat CEO Says AI Can Improve Targeted Ads.
