ASTANA — Protecting teenagers online requires more than privacy settings and messaging restrictions, as ensuring that recommended content is age-appropriate remains a challenge, said Philip Chua, Director of Public Policy, Products (APAC) at Meta, in an exclusive interview with The Astana Times.
Philip Chua, the director of public policy, products (APAC) at Meta. Photo credit: Aida Dosbergenova / The Astana Times Chua said Meta is extending its approach to online safety from protective account settings to the content teenagers encounter, including posts from accounts they follow and recommendations generated by algorithms.
“Fundamentally, algorithms are a way of sorting a lot of content that we have to potentially show a person, and figuring out what to show first. Algorithms are neutral. They are neither inherently good or inherently bad,” he said. Meta has introduced content settings inspired by movie-rating criteria for ages 13 and older, designed to limit teenagers’ exposure to sensitive material across recommended content and accounts they follow.
The approach is part of a wider discussion over how technology companies and governments can protect younger users without unnecessarily restricting digital access. For Kazakhstan, Meta is recommending stronger protections within existing platforms, alongside age verification systems that would reduce the need for users to share personal information with individual applications.
“What we are recommending to governments, including in Kazakhstan, is this idea of an app store or OS-level [operating system-level] approach to age assurance,” he said. The proposal would allow applications to receive age-related information through app stores or operating systems rather than requiring families to provide the same personal details separately to multiple platforms.
Can social media safeguards prevent harm? Philip Chua speaks with The Astana Times reporter Nagima Abuova. Photo: Aida Dosbergenova / The Astana Times While Meta has expanded protections for teenage users, their effectiveness also depends on how successfully the company can prevent inappropriate material from appearing in recommendations and other content.
Some videos, for example, may comply with platform rules while containing suggestive music, language or themes unsuitable for younger audiences. When asked how Meta addresses such material, Chua explained that the company combines artificial intelligence and human review to enforce its community standards, while applying additional content restrictions to teenage accounts.