Social media giants increase global child safety after UK regulations introduced

TikTok, Twitter and Facebook among companies bringing in new measures worldwide that protect children

TikTok has turned off notifications for children past bedtime, Instagram has disabled targeted adverts for under-18s entirely and YouTube has turned off autoplay for teen users: moves seemingly triggered by Britain introducing a new set of regulations aimed at protecting children online.

On Thursday the UK introduced a new set of regulations aimed at protecting children and at a stroke became a global leader in the field, with the prospect of multimillion-dollar fines for companies that breach its new age appropriate design code" leading to a cascade of last-minute changes across some of Silicon Valley's largest players.