Key Takeaways

• Snapchat has defaulted all accounts belonging to under-16s to a strict “friends-only” contact setting.
• The platform is stripping away the ability for strangers to interact with teens by removing public distribution of their stories and Spotlight videos.
• Snapchat already had to purge 415,000 underage accounts in Australia following a government social media ban.

Snapchat’s recent lockdown of teen accounts couldn’t have come at a better time. With the U.K. now poised to follow Australia in enacting a social media ban for those 16 and under, parent company Snap must continue to restructure its service to keep ahead of increasing governmental scrutiny.

On June 10, Snap announced that users aged 13 to 15 will move to a new “friends-only” paradigm that restricts interactions with strangers. The new rules ensure that young people’s profiles are visible only to a list of mutually accepted friends and will be blocked from distribution via the app's algorithmic “Spotlight” content-discovery feature. This removes a major trigger for addictive doomscrolling and the reinforcement of harmful content.

Snapchat’s Response

Snapchat, Meta and YouTube have publicly criticized the U.K. policy, arguing that blanket bans push teens toward “less safe,” unregulated platforms. In response to the Australian ban, Snapchat immediately purged 415,000 user accounts identified as underage when the new verification checks launched, and will be keen to prevent such purges internationally should other countries follow the examples set by Australia and the U.K.

Snapchat’s recent changes show that the company is actively trying to provide a safer environment for young people that will enable them to avoid similar purges in future. This essentially means that, for under-16s, Snapchat ceases to function as a social media app and becomes something closer to a sophisticated messaging platform just for friends and family. Despite this huge reduction in functionality, such an approach could potentially let the company retain younger users on the platform, crucially providing a frictionless transition into an adult account when they come of age.

The Panicked Social Media Landscape

Governmental restrictions have the potential to radically alter the social media landscape. Rival platforms, such as Instagram, advocate for age restrictions enforced at the app store level and are aggressively pushing “teen accounts” designed to protect children. However, unlike Snapchat, Instagram’s child-safe offering still offers access to its algorithmically curated feed of “Reels,” the app's viral short-form video format.

The moves by Australian and U.K. governments are just part of a growing global movement aiming to shield children from harmful and addictive content online with at least twelve countries implementing, or currently considering, similar bans. While critics argue these measures can be easily circumvented with VPNs, Snapchat’s aggressive lockdown proves that platforms are finally feeling compelled to act in defense of a wider social media ban.