Pinterest’s CEO called on world leaders to ban social media for youth under 16 in a LinkedIn post on Friday.
“We need a clear standard: no social media for teens under 16, backed by real enforcement, and accountability for mobile phone operating systems and the apps that run on them,” Bill Ready wrote. Pinterest, an image-sharing platform, has seen a surge in young users over the past year but has disappointed Wall Street with its quarterly financial reports of late.
Ready pointed to Australia’s ban on social media for youth under 16 as a model. A company spokesperson declined to comment on the post and whether the CEO believes the company’s site or app would be included in the ban. Users must be 13 to sign up for a Pinterest account in the US, according to the company’s website. Under the terms of Australia’s ban, teens under 16 are allowed to create Pinterest accounts, giving the company a regulatory edge over larger rivals like Instagram when recruiting younger users.
Ready posted his statement while a trial is under way in Los Angeles about youth social media use. Google and Meta face allegations that their apps are intentionally designed to addict the very young and are fueling a youth mental health crisis. The jury is deliberating on a verdict.
In calling for the ban, Ready is taking a different position than the leaders of the world’s largest technology companies. Those companies are facing growing pressure from regulators, courts, and lawmakers to change how children and teens use their products because of their mental health impacts.
The company in recent years has tried to position itself as a go-to site for gen Z members, broadly defined as people born between 1997 and 2012. A third of Pinterest’s users are ages 17-25, according to Apptopia, a research firm.