UK Govt is Preparing New Guidelines for Social Media Platforms to Protect Children
According to the recent reports, Facebook, Instagram as well as Snapchat will have to remove the like button and in the case of Snapchat, the streaks for the users under 18. The ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) has said that it is going to impose 16 new rules for various social media platforms in order to make those platforms safer for young kids.
One of those rules is indicating towards removing the like button from the different social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as according, to ICO the like button nudges the kids to stay online on those platform for a longer time.
“We’ve launched the draft of our Age Appropriate Design code, which sets the standards for those designing, developing and providing online services to children.” a tweet from the official account of ICO stated.
ICO is also working on the other rules to stop the social media companies from nudging the users younger than 18 years old, to reduce the screen time for them and to control their privacy. According to the new rules the social media platforms will have to keep the user information private by default, and until necessary, the kids should not be asked to share their private information.
The new guidelines will also prevent the companies to ask the kids under 18 to share their geolocations in any circumstances, as the geolocations map the accurate location of the phone.
The initiative of crafting new rules, for keeping the kids under 18 safe, has been taken by the government of UK, after the MPs and other public figures criticised those social media platforms for bad effects on the children. In fact, the Duke of Sussex has called those platforms more addictive than drugs and alcohol.
Though it is a great initiative, for now, it has been only taken in the UK. In fact, in the UK too, the rules will be imposed only in 2020, after the consultation will be over in May 2019, for the other rules. The ICO will start working on making the guidelines starting from Monday, and will consult and take opinions from the public as well as experts. After the guidelines come into effect, the companies would need to pay fine in millions and billions, if it failed to follow.
Yashica is a Software Engineer turned Content Writer, who loves to write on social causes and expertise in writing technical stuff. She loves to watch movies and explore new places. She believes that you need to live once before you die. So experimenting with her life and career choices, she is trying to live her life to the fullest.