Snapchat Removes Few Children Off Its Platform Every Month in Britain: Ofcom

Snapchat is kicking dozens of children in Britain off its platform each month compared with tens of thousands blocked by rival TikTok, according to internal data the companies shared with Britain's media regulator Ofcom and which Reuters has seen.

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Social media platforms such as Meta's Instagram, ByteDance's TikTok, and Snap's Snapchat require users to be at least 13 years old. These restrictions are intended to protect the privacy and safety of young children.

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Ahead of Britain's planned Online Safety Bill, aimed at protecting social media users from harmful content such as child pornography, Ofcom asked TikTok and Snapchat how many suspected under-13s they had kicked off their platforms in a year.

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According to the data seen by Reuters, TikTok told Ofcom that between April 2021 and April 2022, it had blocked an average of around 180,000 suspected underage accounts in Britain every month, or around 2 million in that 12-month period.

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In the same period, Snapchat disclosed that it had removed approximately 60 accounts per month, or just over 700 in total.

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A Snap spokesperson told Reuters the figures misrepresented the scale of work the company did to keep under-13s off its platform. The spokesperson declined to provide additional context or to detail specific blocking measures the company has taken.

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Snapchat Removes Few Children Off Its Platform Every Month in Britain: Ofcom

A Snap spokesperson told Reuters the figures misrepresented the scale of work the company did to keep under-13s off its platform.

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Snapchat is kicking dozens of children in Britain off its platform each month compared with tens of thousands blocked by rival TikTok, according to internal data the companies shared with Britain's media regulator Ofcom and which Reuters has seen.

Brought to you by Trickyenoguh

Social media platforms such as Meta's Instagram, ByteDance's TikTok, and Snap's Snapchat require users to be at least 13 years old. These restrictions are intended to protect the privacy and safety of young children.

Brought to you by Trickyenoguh

Ahead of Britain's planned Online Safety Bill, aimed at protecting social media users from harmful content such as child pornography, Ofcom asked TikTok and Snapchat how many suspected under-13s they had kicked off their platforms in a year.

Brought to you by Trickyenoguh

According to the data seen by Reuters, TikTok told Ofcom that between April 2021 and April 2022, it had blocked an average of around 180,000 suspected underage accounts in Britain every month, or around 2 million in that 12-month period.

Brought to you by Trickyenoguh

In the same period, Snapchat disclosed that it had removed approximately 60 accounts per month, or just over 700 in total.

Brought to you by Trickyenoguh

A Snap spokesperson told Reuters the figures misrepresented the scale of work the company did to keep under-13s off its platform. The spokesperson declined to provide additional context or to detail specific blocking measures the company has taken.

Brought to you by Trickyenoguh