{
  "id": 3655006,
  "title": "Kids will be kids, and that’s the biggest risk with Meta’s new safeguards",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/kids-will-be-kids-and-thats-the-biggest-risk-with-metas-new-safeguards",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-27T03:26:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Japan Times",
    "slug": "japan-times",
    "url": "https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/08/27/tech/kids-risk-meta-safeguards/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Meta Platforms, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, faces a significant challenge in ensuring a precise identification of users' ages on their platforms. Accurately determining a user's age is crucial for the effectiveness of the new safeguards designed to protect teenage users.\n\nTeenagers have historically demonstrated a knack for circumventing online restrictions and safety measures. This persistent ability to bypass limitations poses a considerable obstacle for Meta in implementing robust protective measures.\n\nIn a major agreement with state attorneys general from across the United States, Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion. In return, the company must implement design changes aimed at enhancing teen safety. These include limiting the time younger users can spend scrolling through the apps, blocking them from accessing the platforms during nighttime hours, preventing notifications during school hours, and hiding the number of \"likes\" on posts by default.\n\nDespite these stringent measures, the effectiveness of Meta's new safeguards remains contingent upon its ability to accurately identify users' ages. The company's commitment to this challenge is evident, but the task of consistently and reliably determining a user's age remains a significant hurdle.",
  "summary": "Guardrails can only work as well as a company's ability to accurately identify a user's age, and young people around the world have repeatedly found ways to get past restrictions.",
  "key_points": [
    "Meta struggles to accurately identify users' ages on platforms.",
    "Teenagers often bypass online restrictions, posing a challenge for Meta.",
    "Agreement with state attorneys general leads to $18 billion payout for teen safety measures."
  ],
  "editors_take": "Meta's new safeguards may be circumvented by teenagers' proven ability to evade online restrictions, undermining the effectiveness of measures designed to protect them.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}