Snapchat is now limiting how its youngest users can share Spotlight posts.
Starting this week, users aged 13 to 15 will have a special profile where their Stories and short Spotlight clips can only be seen by friends they have mutually accepted, and these will no longer be shown to the general public on Spotlight.
Previously, users under 16 could post to Spotlight, Snapchat’s public feed similar to TikTok, but their posts were not linked to a profile.
This setup allowed them to participate while protecting them from strangers. The new changes completely remove public access for this age group and eliminate engagement metrics, these profiles will not show favorite counts, reducing the pressure to seek likes.
“For younger teens, we believe the default should be a more private sharing experience,” Snap stated.
Snapchat is differentiating the experience based on age.
Users aged 13 to 15 will have friends-only profiles, while those aged 16 and 17 will have an optional, limited introduction to public sharing with additional safeguards and parental oversight.
The social media platform further stated that once users turn 18, they will gain full public profiles and distribution.
This is in addition to existing protections for teens, which include strict default settings, blocks on messages from people they haven’t added, pre-moderated public content, and Family Center tools that allow parents to view their child’s friends and recent contacts.
Will Pakistan ban social media for teens anytime soon?
In January, the Lahore High Court took up a petition seeking a ban on social media use for children under the age of 16.
Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court Justice Aalia Neelum heard the case filed by an eighth-grade student.
The petition argued that social media platforms including TikTok are negatively affecting the mental moral and educational development of children.
Read more: Is Pakistan planning social media ban for under 16?
