Meta: Meta wants Apple, Google to be responsible for teens downloading Facebook, Instagram

Meta — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram — is often in news for being sued by parents of teens. Parents accuse of Meta for not doing enough to ‘protect’ teens on social media platforms. Now, Meta has implied that it’s not just the company’s responsibility to ensure that teens use its appssafely. In a blog post, Antigone Davis, Global Head of Safety, Meta said that with technology constantly changing keeping up with all the apps teens use can feel impossible.“As an industry, we should come together with lawmakers to create simple, efficient ways for parents to oversee their teens’ online experiences,” he said.

What Meta is proposing

According to Davis, parents should approve their teen’s app downloads, and said that Meta will support federal legislation that requires app stores to get parents’ approval whenever their teens under 16 download apps. “With this solution, when a teen wants to download an app, app stores would be required to notify their parents, much like when parents are notified if their teen attempts to make a purchase,” he said.
Meta feels that this way parents can decide if they want to approve the download. They can also verify the age of their teen when setting up their phone, negating the need for everyone to verify their age multiple times across multiple apps. “This way parents can oversee and approve their teen’s online activity in one place. They can ensure their teens are not accessing adult content or apps, or apps they just don’t want their teens to use,” explained Davis.

What Meta wants Apple, Google to do

Meta is saying that if a teen’s age is verified on the app store — mainly Apple and Google — then individual apps would not be required to collect potentially sensitive identifying information. “Apps would only need the age from the app store to ensure teens are placed in the right experiences for their age group,” added Davis. What Meta is proposing here is making other parties accountable as well. As of now, the buck stops with Meta for Instagram and Facebook but by implying that Apple and Google should also take some responsibility, it is passing the buck to others, including parents.