A safety setting offers limited protection if children must first find it and switch it on.
On November 6, Ofcom said Snapchat had begun turning off its “Find Friends” feature by default for child users in the UK following pressure from the regulator. Ofcom said it would monitor completion of the rollout during November.
The announcement describes implementation in progress. It does not establish that every affected account has already received the change.
Ofcom also said Snapchat had committed to applying highly effective age checks by the end of the year so that under-18s benefit from the protections. That remains a commitment, rather than evidence of completed coverage.
For platform counsel, the distinction between a setting and its deployment is important. A company needs to know which users receive a protection, how their age is identified and how exceptions or errors are handled.
The regulatory update is not a new statute or an announcement of a financial penalty. Its significance lies in a product-design change and the regulator’s stated intention to check delivery.
Canadian organizations can take a governance lesson without assuming the UK requirements apply domestically.
The meaningful question is how many children receive the safer default - not simply whether the setting exists.
Sources: Ofcom update; Reuters report.