Child safety campaigners believe reforms brought in by Facebook do not go far enough
Child safety campaigners believe reforms brought in by Facebook do not go far enoughJOSH EDELSON/AFP
Facebook has been accused of failing to tackle serious risks to children while introducing tools to help people limit their time on the site.
The company said it would present graphs to show users how long they were spending on the network and add optional alerts to warn them when they go over self-imposed time limits. Users can also mute notifications. Similar tools are being added to Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. Steve Hatch, Facebook director for UK and Ireland, said: “We feel a responsibility to help ensure that time on Facebook is time well spent.”

However, Laura Randall, associate head of child safety online at the NSPCC, said that the changes did not address risks to young people, adding: “Time limits do not address the fact that there are still no consistent child safety standards in place. Apps, sites and games continue to allow violent and sexual content to be accessed by children and sexual predators are free to roam their platforms targeting and grooming young people.”

• Facebook has stopped “hundreds of thousands” of apps from accessing user data after developers failed to resubmit them for review following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It is understood that many were defunct.