Snapchat’s Find Friends Feature Will Be Off By Default For UK Users Under 18

Snapchat is starting to roll out a change that will set its “Find Friends” feature to off by default in the UK for users under 18, according to the country’s online safety watchdog, Ofcom. The feature, which Snap characterizes as its friend-finding tool, gleans info from users like age, location and existing friends and followers to make adding friends easier. Snap said the Find Friends feature is for “close and trusted real-life connections while prioritizing user safety,” but Ofcom has previously accused the platform of not doing enough to protect minors.

“Given how widely Snapchat is used by UK children, this is an important and welcome improvement in child online safety,” Oliver Griffiths, director for Ofcom’s Online Safety Group, said in a press release. “It is also long overdue and we’ll be holding the company to account on completing the rollout of this crucial safety measure this month.”

Griffiths also said that Snap will be adding “highly effective age checks” by the end of this year and that tech companies that don’t improve their protections for younger users will face enforcement actions. The UK’s media regulatory authority has the power to fine non-compliant companies up to 18 million pounds or 10 percent of its qualifying worldwide revenue.

Across the country, the UK is also planning to ban social media for users under the age of 16, as announced by the former Prime Minister Keir Starmer earlier this year. Outside the UK, the European Union has also opened a formal investigation into Snap to see if it broke rules of the Digital Services Act, particularly related to protecting younger users on the platform.