How can the EU make a social media ban a success?

Luke Wilson (0:01)

The boss of Snapchat backs calls for social media time limits for teenagers. It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service. I'm Luke Wilson. The chair of the fashion brand Paul Smith says working from home doesn't work, and an American private equity firm takes control of Chelsea Football Club.

The boss of Snapchat says his platform would be willing to implement time limits for teenagers and that it could be an important step forward for the industry. It comes after Facebook's parent company Meta called for other social media companies to also make changes to their platforms after its multi-billion dollar legal settlement with US states. Evan Spiegel was speaking to our North America technology correspondent, Lily Jamali.

Evan Spiegel (0:50)

We really think it's important for parents to be in control of their teens' experience online and of course on Snapchat. I think for us that was a step forward and we want to figure out how we can be part of the solution as well and hopefully get to an industry-wide solution that really helps parents stay in control and helps teens manage the risks of communicating online.

Luke Wilson (1:09)

It's as the European Union has become the latest place to announce plans to restrict social media access for under-15s. I asked Sonia Livingstone, who leads the Digital Futures for Children Centre at the London School of Economics, what the EU could learn from Australia where a teen social media ban is already in place.

Sonia Livingstone (1:28)

The key lesson from Australia is that the ban by and large is not effective because the age assurance isn't really being applied by the platforms.

So what Europe is going to need is a robust and privacy-respecting way of knowing who is what age. And then secondly, a very determined plan of enforcement with the platforms to make sure that they put those measures in place.

Luke Wilson (1:54)

And we've heard the boss of Snapchat telling the BBC today, he's open to time limits for teenagers on his platform. We've heard Meta talking about similar things. Are you encouraged by what you're hearing from these tech bosses?

Sonia Livingstone (2:06)

Well, I think they can see that the tide is turning and that in America, in Europe, in many other parts of the world, the public and governments are really now demanding that big tech serves children's interests, not the other way round. So, yes, I'm encouraged that they're beginning to say the right things, but it seems to me that they are keener on limiting some things, like children's time online, and perhaps not other things, like how they use children's data or how they feed them certain kinds of problematic content.

Luke Wilson (2:40)

And in your research on this subject, Sonia, what have you found, what have you heard from young people about their views on social media?

Sonia Livingstone (2:48)

Across Europe, we just surveyed 28,000 children and young people asking them for their views on the ban and their experiences of social media, from which we learned that social media can provide children and young people with really important benefits as well as harms. And so it is about making the platform safer rather than just restricting children's access to all social media.

Luke Wilson (3:15)

Sonia Livingstone from the London School of Economics. The Bank of England has announced its latest interest rate decision, but unlike America's Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, it has kept rates on hold. Nicholas Hyatt is Lead Alternatives Analyst at Hargreaves Lands Down. Why the hold, Nicholas?

Nicholas Hyatt (3:33)

Interest rates are always a balancing act between inflation on the one hand and economic growth on the other. Inflation numbers that came in yesterday were up to 3.1%, which is well ahead of the bank's target. But that's being driven by global oil prices and core inflation, which covers kind of inflation driven within the economy itself, has actually stayed pretty steady.

So the banks have decided to look through that inflationary pressure and maybe focus more on the fact that the economy isn't going gangbusters, certainly not as strong as the US, and decided to wait it out for now, rather than make a big decision to raise rates here and now.

Luke Wilson (4:08)

Nicholas Hyatt, Lead Alternatives Analyst at Hargroves Lansdowne, thank you.

Nigeria's largest labour union is calling on the government to intervene over the rising cost of petrol, warning that it's placing further financial pressure on households. The Nigeria Labour Congress wants additional oil revenues to be used to support consumers. It argues that Nigeria should be better protected because it's an oil producer with refining capacity. The country has seen some of the steepest petrol price increases in the world this year because of global supply issues.