Meta on Thursday convened the Nigeria Youth Safety Summit in Abuja, bringing together government officials, civil society organisations, parents, educators, content creators and youth leaders to strengthen collaboration on digital wellbeing and safer online experiences for young people.
The summit, held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel and co-hosted with the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, highlighted Meta's investments in youth online safety through built-in protections, parental supervision tools and digital literacy resources aimed at helping teenagers navigate the digital space safely.
The event featured keynote presentations, panel discussions and a Parents Learn and Brunch session organised in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.
Participants explored practical approaches to promoting safer online engagement while emphasising the importance of partnerships among government, technology companies, parents, schools and civil society in advancing digital wellbeing.
Speaking at the summit, Meta's Head of Safety Policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Sylvia Musalagani, said the company remained committed to providing teenagers with age-appropriate and safe online experiences.
"At Meta, our goal is to provide teens with safe, age-appropriate online experiences, and events like the Nigeria Youth Safety Summit reflect our commitment to promoting safer and more positive digital experiences for teens.
"With products such as Teen Accounts, Meta is putting the right protections in place so teens can explore their interests and express their creativity in a safe, age-appropriate space.
"We will continue to build the safety features and tools that families need to support young people online," she said.
Musalagani explained that Teen Accounts represent a redesigned experience across Meta's platforms specifically for teenagers.
She said the accounts are automatically enabled for all teenagers and include built-in safety features such as private accounts, the strictest messaging settings, restrictions on sensitive content, limited tagging and mentions to people they follow, daily time reminders after 60 minutes of use, and sleep mode between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
According to her, teenagers under the age of 16 require parental approval before making any changes that would reduce the default safety settings.
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, described child online safety as one of the ministry's key priorities.
She said children require informed parental guidance to safely navigate the digital environment, stressing that online safety is a shared responsibility involving parents, technology companies and government.
"Child online safety is one of our central pillars and we are steadfast in our mandate to safeguard the Nigerian child from technology-enabled violence.
"Children cannot navigate the complexities of the online world without informed adults guiding them because safety begins with the parents.
"Safety is a shared tripartite responsibility between parents, technological industries and government.
"That is the fundamental premise of today's summit, a hands-on walk through of parental supervision tools and Teen Accounts.
"We appreciate Meta for the collaboration and for creating a platform for these important conversations," she said.
Meta also highlighted its parental supervision tools, which allow parents to receive notifications when teenagers report content, gain insights into who they communicate with, set daily usage limits, schedule breaks and monitor age-appropriate content interests.
The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, commended Meta for the initiative and noted its alignment with the ministry's National Youth Data Protection and Awareness Training Programme.
"I want to thank Meta for this great achievement.
"At the ministry, one of the things we provide to all Nigerians is the skills to succeed in this digital world while making sure we protect them against emerging threats.
"We see a strong connection between the objectives of this summit and the goals of our National Youth Data Protection and Awareness Training Programme.
"We believe that keeping young people safe online is a shared responsibility.
"Government, technology companies, schools, parents, social organisations, community groups and young people themselves all have a role to play.
"We encourage Meta to make the tools, guides and learning materials from this initiative more widely available so that young people across Nigeria can continue to benefit from this laudable summit," he said.
The summit concluded with discussions focused on strengthening partnerships, promoting digital literacy and advancing a shared vision for youth online safety across Nigeria.
