S'pore govt to look into turning off social media autoplay by default, with parents having option to adjust setting: Josephine Teo
Safeguards to make social media safer for young children.
Singapore's Minister for Digital Development and Information, Josephine Teo, announced the government's consideration of having social media platforms disable autoplay functionality by default, with the option for parents to modify the setting. This proposal emerged following Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's National Day Rally speech on August 23, which emphasized the need for a safer online environment for young users.
Autoplay is a feature on social media platforms that automatically loads media without user request. Teo cited a July 30 report by the Ministry of Health's expert panel, which highlighted autoplay among various features potentially exposing users to safety risks. The panel's concerns include direct messaging, infinite scroll, and algorithmically curated feeds.
In response to Meta's recent $18 billion (S$22.9 billion) settlement in the U.S. over alleged child harm, Teo acknowledged the measures Meta agreed to, such as a default daily time limit of two hours and overnight access restrictions. Teo noted that some of these measures align with Singapore's ongoing discussions with Meta, but the default settings differ.
While Meta allows parents to disable autoplay as a default, Singapore aims for autoplay to be off by default, with parents able to adjust it if desired. Unlike the U.S. arrangement, Teo emphasized there is no definitive "magic number" for an ideal daily time limit, stressing that the focus should be on the benefits of reduced daily usage, encouraging users to engage in other activities.
Written by urgent.news from Mothership's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
