Snapchat Said to Be Under Scrutiny From UK Watchdog Over Underage Users

Britain’s knowledge regulator is gathering data on Snapchat to determine whether or not the US immediate messaging app is doing sufficient to take away underage customers from its platform, two individuals accustomed to the matter mentioned.

Reuters reported completely in March that Snapchat proprietor Snap had solely eliminated a number of dozen youngsters aged under-13 from its platform in Britain final 12 months, whereas UK media regulator Ofcom estimates it has 1000’s of underage customers.

Under UK knowledge safety regulation, social media corporations want parental consent earlier than processing knowledge of kids underneath 13. Social media companies usually require customers to be 13 or over however have had combined success in preserving youngsters off their platforms.

Snapchat declined to offer particulars of any measures it might need taken to scale back the variety of underage customers.

“We share the goals of the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) to ensure digital platforms are age appropriate and support the duties set out in the Children’s Code,” a Snap spokesperson mentioned.

“We continue to have constructive conversations with them on the work we’re doing to achieve this,” they added.

Before launching any official investigation, the ICO usually gathers data associated to an alleged breach. It might situation an data discover, a proper request for inner knowledge that will assist the investigation, earlier than deciding whether or not to nice the person or organisation being investigated.

Last 12 months, Ofcom discovered 60 p.c of kids aged between eight and 11 had at the very least one social media account, usually created by supplying a false date of delivery. It additionally discovered Snapchat was the most well-liked app for underage social media customers.

The ICO obtained a variety of complaints from the general public regarding Snap’s dealing with of kids’s knowledge after the Reuters report, a supply accustomed to the matter mentioned.

Some of the complaints associated to Snapchat not doing sufficient to maintain younger youngsters off its platform, the supply mentioned.

The ICO has spoken to customers and different regulators to evaluate whether or not there was any breach by Snap, the sources mentioned.

An ICO spokesperson instructed Reuters it continued to watch and assess the approaches Snap and different social media platforms had been taking to stop underage youngsters from accessing their platforms.

A call on whether or not to launch a proper investigation into Snapchat might be made within the coming months, the sources mentioned.

PLATFORM PRESSURE

If the ICO discovered Snap to be in breach of its guidelines, the agency might face a nice equal to as much as 4 p.c of its annual international turnover, which in accordance with a Reuters calculation would equate to $184 million (roughly Rs. 1,522 crore) based mostly on its most up-to-date monetary outcomes.

Snapchat and different social media companies are underneath strain globally to raised police content material on their platforms.

The NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Young Children), mentioned that figures it had obtained confirmed that Snapchat accounted for 43 p.c of circumstances by which social media was used to distribute indecent pictures of kids.

Snapchat has beforehand not responded to this report when requested to touch upon it by Reuters.

Earlier this 12 months, the ICO fined TikTok 12.7 million kilos ($16.2 million) for misusing youngsters’s knowledge, saying the Snap competitor didn’t “take sufficient action” to take away them.

A TikTok spokesperson mentioned on the time that it “invested heavily” to maintain under-13s off the platform and that its 40,000-strong security group labored “around the clock” to maintain it protected.

Snapchat does block customers from signing up with a date of delivery that places them underneath the age of 13? However, different apps take extra proactive measures to stop underage youngsters from accessing their platforms.

For instance, if an under-13-year-old has failed to enroll to TikTok utilizing their actual date of delivery, the app continues blocking them from creating an account. 

© Thomson Reuters 2023