The news: YouTube will not join Meta’s multistate settlement surrounding child safety violations, claiming that it already has effective measures, like scrolling limits and relationships with third-party safety monitors, in place to protect underage users, per CNN.

TikTok, also part of the case against Meta and YouTube, has not commented on Meta’s calls to join the settlement.

Why it matters: YouTube’s refusal, combined with structural changes coming to Meta platforms as part of the settlement, pushes marketers toward a social media landscape where there is no single industry standard on teen protections.

Teen safety protections are also fragmenting globally due to a patchwork of regulations, varying enforcement, and different approaches by country.

• Australia’s social media ban for children under 16 sparked a wave of similar legislation in countries like France and Spain.
• Bans make marketing more challenging in countries like the US, where state and federal lawmakers are pursuing varying bills and laws targeting different elements of teen social media use. Proposed regulations range from complete bans for children under a certain age in states like North Carolina to restrictions on features like personalized algorithms in New York’s SAFE for Kids Act.
• Enforcement is proving challenging. In the US, critics argue that teen safety regulations could infringe on privacy and free speech, while some laws are tied up in court for the foreseeable future. In Australia, many teens have already found ways to bypass bans.

These increasingly disparate approaches to teen safety means that advertisers are now being asked to navigate unique laws, adhere to platform-specific rules that can be vastly different, and keep track of rapidly shifting rules around teen targeting.

Recommendations for marketers:

• Plan for platform-specific youth reach. Model how different age limits, time restrictions, algorithms, and safety features change across platforms and impact available reach and frequency.
• Audit platforms’ age-based targeting and compliance. Review how different platforms identify users by age and how targeting, data collection, and measurement align with applicable laws.
• Prioritize contextual advertising over personalized or behavioral tracking. That could mean aligning with specific creators, family-friendly media, and trusted publisher networks. Use independent demographic filters and custom keyword lists to reach older teens legally.

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