Snap Weighs Teen Time Limits As Meta Settlement Sets Safety Test

Snap would be willing to put default time limits on teen use of Snapchat, chief executive Evan Spiegel told the BBC, turning Meta’s legal settlement with US states into a wider test for social platforms that compete for young users.

Spiegel did not commit to a launch date.

But his answer moved Snap closer to a measure that Meta has already accepted: a two-hour daily default limit for teen users, paired with school-hour notification controls, night-time blocks and other restrictions.

The pressure comes from Meta’s recent settlement with attorneys general from most US states.

The case alleged that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed to be addictive for young users.

Meta denied wrongdoing, agreed to pay $12.7 billion over 10 years and accepted the youth-safety changes as part of the deal.

The agreement also creates a competitive lever.

Meta has said it will apply even stricter time limits and pay an additional $5.3 billion if YouTube and TikTok adopt similar measures.

A Meta spokesperson said last month that the company hoped Snap would make comparable platform changes.

Spiegel framed a default limit as a possible industry norm rather than a unilateral retreat.

In the BBC interview, he described common rules for teen limits as a useful way for the industry to define shared expectations.

Asked directly about a default time cap, he called it “a really good example” of a step Snap would be willing to take.

Snap already offers parental tools through its Family Center feature, which lets parents track some aspects of how teens use Snapchat.

The unresolved point is whether those controls become a platform default rather than a family-by-family setting.

“That’s something we’ve talked about internally,” Spiegel said.

“I don’t have more to share today.”

The same interview also set out Snap’s next hardware push.

The company announced new features for its upcoming Specs glasses, including links to Apple iPhone and Mac devices and AI functions that can suggest actions based on a user’s goals, relationships and routines.

Specs will not be a mass-market product at launch.

The glasses are priced at $2,195 in the US and £1,995 in the UK, with Snap targeting early adopters, developers and enterprise users.

Spiegel described the device as a middle ground between full virtual-reality headsets and lighter AI glasses, with see-through lenses and a weight of about 130 grams.

The hardware plan arrives in a privacy-sensitive market.

Meta’s smart glasses have drawn criticism over covert filming, even as sales continue to rise; the BBC cited Meta’s estimate that seven million pairs have been sold.

Snap says Specs will not use facial recognition to identify people, and a white light will flash when the device records video or takes a photo.

That leaves Snap balancing two platform questions at once.

On the app side, youth-safety rules may become harder to keep optional if Meta’s settlement terms turn into an industry benchmark.

On the device side, Specs will test whether visible recording indicators and no facial recognition are enough to separate Snap’s smart glasses from the privacy backlash facing rivals.