Instagram took the biggest step yet to protect its young users from risks on its platform on Tuesday. It is adding new “teen account” settings that will make millions of teen accounts private and limit the types of content those users can see on the app.
Nearly three years have passed since the explosive “Facebook Papers” first brought attention to the dangers that teens face on the site. Now, Instagram has changed how teens can use its service.
The new guidelines should also encourage kids to use app parental controls. Instagram will automatically offer “teen accounts” to under-18s. After the update, users aged 16 and up will be able to change the app back to the way they like it, but users aged 13 to 15 will need to get permission from a parent before making any changes.
In recent years, Meta, the parent company, has produced over 30 tools to assist individuals in staying healthy and watch their kids. Reminders to “take a break” and limits on “age-inappropriate” information like eating disorder posts. Despite those upgrades, the firm has been accused of making parents and kids too responsible for their safety. For parental supervision features to work, youngsters have to tell their parents when they use the app.
Arturo Bejar, a new Facebook employee who turned into a whistleblower, told a Senate panel in November that Meta’s top executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, ignored warnings about harm to teens on its platforms for years. This put more pressure on Meta to do more to protect teens.
Facebook’s New Teen Privacy Protections
Recent cases against the company have also said that Zuckerberg repeatedly obstructed efforts to improve the well-being of teens, that Meta refused to close the accounts of children younger than 13 years old, and that the company has helped child predators.
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In January, at a Senate meeting, Zuckerberg told families that he was sorry for the harm that social media had caused their children.
Most parents worry about their adolescents’ online conversations, what they view, and how they spend their time. Changes aim to “address those concerns.”
The “teen accounts” update will make all under-18 accounts private and have the toughest messaging settings. After the modification, teens can only receive texts from friends. Only persons they follow can tag teens in photos or remarks.
In addition, teens will be put in Instagram’s strictest content control settings. Teens will not be able to see as much “sensitive” information on their Explore page and in Reels. For example, posts about cosmetic procedures will not be shown to them.
Instagram had already started using that approach earlier this year, though it was only in a few places.
Additionally, teens who use the app will be prompted to end their sessions after one hour every day. Between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., the app will go into “sleep mode,” which turns off notifications and sends auto-replies to direct messages.
Instagram is going to make the changes to all teen accounts in some countries, like the US, starting next week.
Challenges in Verifying Account Ownership
Also, the app will be adding new features to its parental supervision tool that will let parents see what accounts their teen has recently messaged, set daily time limits for teens’ Instagram use, stop teens from using Instagram at night or other times, and see what topics their teen has chosen to see content from on the app.
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Facebook will update teen accounts in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia within 60 days. Then, they will update accounts in other countries later this year and next.
Some of the changes may not work as well as they could because Meta has no way of knowing for sure if someone is watching a teen’s account and not, say, an older friend. A spokesperson for Meta said that the company doesn’t do official parent verification but instead looks at things like the adult user’s birthdate and how many other accounts they’re in charge of to decide if they should be able to manage a teen’s account.
Meta has faced ongoing criticism for its insufficient measures to stop minors from misrepresenting their age when signing up for new accounts, thereby bypassing safety protocols.
The company says it is using artificial intelligence to try to find teen accounts that may have made a mistake and put in an adult birthdate.
Meta says its Safety Advisory Council—independent online safety experts and organizations, youth advisers, teens, parents, and government officials—inputted on the new features.
FAQs
Instagram is implementing new privacy measures to protect teen users from harmful content and online interactions. This includes locking accounts that do not meet the platform’s age verification requirements or that violate its terms of service.
Instagram uses a combination of automated tools and human review. Which helps to assess whether a teen’s account complies with its age verification and safety policies. This may involve analyzing account activity, content, and interactions.
