Snapchat Boss Open to Teen Time Limits
Snap chief executive Evan Spiegel has told the BBC his company would be “willing to implement” default time limits for teenagers on Snapchat, after Meta pressed rivals to copy restrictions it accepted in a multi-billion-dollar settlement with U.S. states.
Speaking at Snap’s California headquarters, Spiegel called a cap on how long young users can stay on the app “an important step forward for the industry” and said the firm had “looked really thoughtfully at the terms”, but did not give a date. “That’s something we’ve talked about internally. I don’t have more to share today.” Parents can already use Family Center to watch some of how a teenager uses the app. “We want to figure out how we can be part of the solution,” he said.
Meta agreed in August to pay $12.7 billion and to put a two-hour daily default on teen accounts on Instagram and Facebook, mute notifications in school hours and block the apps at night. It denied wrongdoing. The money is to be paid over ten years.
If YouTube and TikTok adopt similar limits, Meta said it would tighten the rules further and pay another $5.3 billion. A Meta spokesperson said last month the company hoped Snap would follow.
Attorneys general for most states had accused Meta of building products to hook children. Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap all face lawsuits that link their apps to a youth mental-health crisis. Snap has also been accused of making illegal drug sales easier.
Spiegel was speaking as Snap set out new functions for Specs, its next smart glasses, priced at $2,195 in the United States and £1,995 in Britain and aimed first at early adopters, developers and businesses. The glasses, about 130 grams with see-through lenses, are meant to sit between a full VR headset and slimmer AI frames. Spiegel said onboard AI would learn goals, relationships and routines and offer next steps without a constant prompt. The company promises live translation in 60 languages and video streaming. A white light above the nose is supposed to show when the cameras are on. Snap says Specs will not use facial recognition to name people nearby.
The launch comes a decade after Spectacles lost the company tens of millions of dollars, and as Meta’s glasses – about seven million pairs sold, draw complaints about covert filming. Meta claims it has remotely disabled cameras on thousands of units where the recording light was tampered with.
