Snapchat's Find Friends feature will be off by default for UK users under 18
The platform is rolling out this change in the country starting this month.
Snapchat has announced that it will disable its Find Friends feature by default for users under 18 in the UK starting this month, according to the country's online safety watchdog Ofcom. The Find Friends feature uses users' age, location, friends, and followers to make adding friends easier. However, Ofcom has accused Snapchat of not doing enough to protect minors.
Oliver Griffiths, director of Ofcom's Online Safety Group, welcomed the change as an important and overdue improvement in child online safety. The company will also introduce robust age checks by the end of the year. Non-compliant tech companies could face enforcement actions up to 18 million pounds or 10 percent of their worldwide revenue.
The UK is also planning to ban social media for users under 16, while the European Union is investigating Snapchat for potential Digital Services Act violations related to protecting younger users.
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