Social Networks Agree to Be Rated On Their Teen Safety Efforts

Source: Slashdot

Overview

Meta, TikTok, Snap and other social networks agreed this week to be rated on their teen safety efforts, reports the Los Angeles Times, “amid rising concern about whether the world’s largest social media platforms are doing enough to protect the mental health of young people.”

The Mental Health Coalition, a collective of organizations focused on destigmatizing mental health issues, announced on Tuesday that it is launching standards and a new rating system for online platforms.

Safe Online Standards (S.O.S.) Program

For the Safe Online Standards (S.O.S.) program, an independent panel of global experts will evaluate companies on parameters including:

• Safety rules
• Design
• Moderation
• Mental health resources

TikTok, Snap and Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — will be the first companies to be graded. Discord, YouTube, Pinterest, Roblox and Twitch have also agreed to participate, the coalition said in a news release.

“These standards provide the public with a meaningful way to evaluate platform protections and hold companies accountable — and we look forward to more tech companies signing up for the assessments,”
— Antigone Davis, vice president and global head of safety at Meta, in a statement.

Rating System

The ratings will be color‑coded:

• Blue shield badge – indicates the platform helps reduce harmful content and has clear rules.
• Red rating – indicates the platform is not reliably blocking harmful content or lacks proper rules.
• Other colors – indicate partial protection or that the evaluation has not yet been completed.