👉 Background: Meta, the owners of Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Threads, has over 3.5 billion users across its platforms. In fact, 77% of internet users have at least one Meta account…a lot of whom are young people.

👉 What happened: Meta has been under the spotlight for a while now for how its platform impacts younger people. Three years ago, leaked documents showed that Meta knew Instagram was harming the mental health of teen girls. And just recently, Australia announced that it’s planning a social media ban for teenagers too.

👉 What else: Meta has now announced that Instagram users under 16 will automatically have their accounts restricted. This new step has forced Meta to face up to the ethical cost of its business.

What's the key learning?

💡Social media companies are caught in a “social dilemma” between the growth of their platforms, and the safety of their users.

💡Engagement is core to how social media companies like Meta earn their revenue, but on the other hand, social media companies are facing more pressure from regulators to protect their users which is forcing them to make decisions that go entirely against their business model, hitting their core demographic.

💡In fact, last year, Instagram made most of its ad revenue of $4 billion USD from users aged between 14-17, and now they’re restricting that exact demographic. We also saw TikTok introduce new default settings for teenagers and bring in parental controls early last year.