Snapchat starts turning off Find Friends for UK children
Ofcom says the default change is intended to make it harder for strangers to contact children and reduce grooming risks.
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Ofcom says the default change is intended to make it harder for strangers to contact children and reduce grooming risks.
Snapchat has begun turning off its Find Friends feature by default for children in Britain, the UK media regulator Ofcom said on 6 November. The feature suggests people users might add as contacts.
Snapchat committed to the change in May. Ofcom expects it to make it harder for strangers to contact children and reduce the risk of online grooming, when someone builds a relationship with a child to exploit them.
Snapchat says the default applies to UK users under 18. When Find Friends is off, they do not see friend suggestions on their Add Friends page or appear in other users’ suggestions. Snapchat says the change is intended to meet its obligations under the UK Online Safety Act.
Users can turn Find Friends back on, restoring suggestions and visibility to others, including potentially adults and people they do not know. With it off, someone can still find a user by searching for an exact name or username. Users can also connect through Snapcodes or see people from their own address book if they have synced their contacts.
Snapchat says users who keep the feature off will not receive suggestion-based or “recently joined” friend notifications. Adults will not be notified when a UK user under 18 joins or appears as a new contact while that user has Find Friends off.
Ofcom has pressed major technology companies to strengthen their anti-grooming measures. In May, the regulator said 32% of British children aged 8–12 used Snapchat, although its minimum age is 13.
A 2025 analysis of British police data by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children found that 40% of recorded offenses involving sexual communication with a child took place on Snapchat, among cases where the platform was identified.
CNA said Snapchat did not immediately respond to a request for comment on 6 November.
Snapchat more recently told Ofcom that effective age checks for under-18s should be in place by the end of 2026. Ofcom’s Online Safety Group director, Oliver Griffiths, called the default change “long overdue” and said the regulator would monitor the rollout during November.
Ofcom also warned that technology companies failing to tackle grooming risks could face fines of up to 10% of their qualifying global revenue.
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