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Snapchat owner Snap Inc wants to “take responsibility” for users’ experience on its app, including ensuring child safety, co-founder and chief executive officer Evan Spiegel said Thursday at the Bloomberg Technology Summit.
Snap and other social networks including Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook, X Corp, Discord and TikTok have faced scrutiny from lawmakers and parents over their apps’ impact on kids. Lawmakers and child-safety advocates have debated whether social media companies, parents or device makers such as Apple Inc and Google should take primary responsibility for safeguarding kids online.
“For us it’s more about, ‘What can we do?’” Spiegel said. “We really want to take responsibility for the experience that we’re providing to our community.”
Snapchat is focused on connecting users with people they know in the real world, Spiegel said, adding that the app doesn’t have public-facing likes and is private by default. The CEO said parents’ responsibility is to have conversations with their kids about the importance of only talking with their “real friends”, and facilitating interactions in the real world.
“We’ve always focused on communication between family and friends,” Spiegel said. “And making that really fast, and fun and visual.”
Earlier this year, Spiegel testified before US Congress alongside the CEOs of Meta, X, Discord and TikTok about shielding children online from sexual predators and mental health issues. Snap was the only social media company to support the Kids Online Safety Act.
Social media companies have also faced pushback over their handling of user data, with lawmakers most recently passing a law to ban rival TikTok in the US unless the app, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd, is sold to a US company. Spiegel urged the government to develop a more comprehensive framework for dealing with national security issues, noting that many US businesses have relationships with China. – Bloomberg
