Snapchat Find Friends Now Off by Default for UK Under-18s
Snapchat Find Friends is being turned off by default for UK users under 18, Ofcom says, with age checks due by year end and fines of up to 10% of revenue at stake.
Hakkı ALKANPublished 3 min read
Snapchat has started turning off its Find Friends feature by default for users under 18 in the UK, Ofcom said on November 6. Teens will no longer see friend suggestions or appear in other people's suggestions unless they switch Snapchat Find Friends back on, and the regulator expects the rollout to be complete this month.
The change matters because Find Friends is the tool most likely to put a child in front of strangers. In a statement on its website, Ofcom said the move came "as a result of sustained pressure" and described it as protection from "stranger danger online."
Snapchat is hugely popular with British children. Ofcom said in May that 32% of UK children aged 8 to 12 use the app, according to Reuters, even though its minimum age is 13.
What Changes for Teens in Snapchat Find Friends?
Find Friends uses signals such as age, location, mutual friends and synced contacts to suggest people a user might know. Under the new default, both "Enable Find Friends" and "Show me in Find Friends" are off for UK users under 18. As a result, adults are also not notified when a teen joins or shows up as a new contact.
Teens can still add people in other ways. According to Snapchat's UK safety support page, they can search for an exact username, scan a Snapcode or see people from their own synced contact book. They can also turn the feature back on in Settings under Privacy Controls, after a warning that doing so could expose them to adults and people they do not know.
What Did Ofcom Say About Snapchat?
Oliver Griffiths, director of Ofcom's Online Safety Group, called the change "an important and welcome improvement in child online safety," but added that it is "long overdue." He said Snap has confirmed that "highly effective age checks" should cover all under-18s by the end of 2026, and that Ofcom will monitor progress closely.
Under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom can fine companies up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is higher. The regulator's hand has also grown stronger since Meta, TikTok and X lost their court challenge against the law.
Why Does This Matter Beyond the UK?
Snap says it is making the change to meet its UK legal obligations, so teens elsewhere keep the old default for now. Even so, regulators are moving in the same direction worldwide, from the EU's scrutiny of TikTok's recommendation rabbit holes to Turkey's new social media age verification rules.
In our view, this is the right default, and it is telling that it took regulatory pressure to get there. Friend suggestions drive growth, and Snap is under pressure to grow, as shown by the Snapchat+ subscriber milestone that failed to lift its stock. The real test is the age checks: if Snap cannot reliably tell who is under 18, a teen-only default protects far fewer children than the headline suggests.