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Social Platforms Agree To Third-Party Ratings
Censor the scroll // Illustration by Kate Walker
Meta, TikTok, and Snap have become the first major tech companies to let their platforms receive official safety ratings.
Why It Hits: Social media has been proven, time and again, to harm kids’ and teens’ mental health. After years of outcry, governments are now age-gating platforms, potentially forcing apps to tweak their algorithms, and putting companies on trial. With so much heat on them, companies know they need to get more serious about acknowledging issues like addiction, bullying, and access to inappropriate content inherent to their platforms.
Behind The Ratings: The Kenneth Cole-backed Mental Health Coalition is taking the lead in rating Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.
The ratings will determine how safe each platform is for users under 18 — similar to how the MPAA scores films (G through NC-17).
They’ll assess several criteria, including “how easy it is for teens to take breaks from their feeds and how often those users encounter inappropriate posts,” per Tubefilter.
Platforms with the highest ratings will receive a “shield-safe emblem” certifying the safety of their feeds, while those with low ratings will get a very public slap on the wrist.
Final Decision: There’s no direct legal or financial penalty for a low rating, but the optics could be brutal. A poor score might push more parents to scrutinize how their kids use these apps — putting added pressure on companies already under fire. That kind of reputational risk tends to spur real changes: stronger safety tools, more flexible algorithms, better moderation, and actual customer support.
Because the alternative — governments forcing kids off the platforms entirely — is far worse for business.
The Future: If widely adopted, these safety ratings could help reverse Australia’s recent ban on under-16 social media access — and potentially prevent similar restrictions in France, the UK, Spain, and many other countries.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.