UK urges Meta to apply US child safety safeguards after $18bn settlement

The UK government has urged Meta, the owner of Instagram, to apply the same child‑protection measures that the company agreed to in a recent U.S. court settlement. The settlement, reached on Wednesday, requires Meta to roll out safeguards for young users in the United States and could cost the company up to $18 billion ($13 billion in pounds). Labour’s work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, said on Thursday that British children should not receive a lower level of protection than their U.S. counterparts.

McFadden criticised the prospect that U.K. users might be left with fewer safeguards, arguing that the government expects Meta to extend the U.S. protections to Britain as part of the broader regulatory push to curb harmful content for minors. The U.S. lawsuit was brought by dozens of states that accused Meta of contributing to the mental‑health decline of children through its platform’s design and advertising practices.

The move reflects the government’s broader strategy to tighten digital‑platform regulation and protect young people from potentially damaging content. If Meta complies, it would bring the company’s child‑protection policies into line across both markets, aligning the U.K. with the higher U.S. standards set by the settlement.