Snapchat Disables Find Friends for UK Children to Protect Them from Grooming

The UK communications regulator Ofcom announced Friday that Snapchat had begun turning off the Find Friends feature by default for child users in the UK, aiming to protect them from online grooming risks.

Ofcom said online grooming can have devastating, lifelong consequences for children. The regulator said the change would make it harder for strangers to contact children through the platform, which is one of the largest and most popular online services among children in the UK.

Approximately 32% of children aged eight to 12 use the platform, despite its minimum permitted age of 13 for communicating and expressing themselves. Ofcom renewed its warning to technology companies that ignore the need to tackle grooming risks, threatening them with fines of up to 10% of their global revenues.

Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom's Online Safety Group Director, said the change was long overdue and that the regulator would monitor Snapchat's rollout of the new protection during the month.

Snapchat said it would continue strengthening its safeguards as risks evolve and would work constructively with Ofcom, safety experts, families and young people to help ensure that Snapchat remains a safe place.

Snapchat had previously announced its commitment to making the change in May and recently informed Ofcom that highly effective age checks for those under 18 would take effect by the end of the year.

Source: QNA

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