Locked Down: Instagram’s New Teen Safety Feature – Only Approved Followers Can Break Through
Meta Introduces Enhanced Safety Measures for Teenage Instagram Users
Strengthening Parental Supervision and Limiting Sensitive Content
[AFP 연합뉴스]
Meta Platform, the parent company of Facebook, has announced measures to strengthen safety usage for young users on Instagram. Teenage accounts on the image-centered social network service will be set to private by default, and will be limited to receiving private messages only from people they follow or are already connected to.
These measures come amid criticism that Meta is harming young people by deliberately and intentionally designing features on Instagram and Facebook to make them addictive. Last October, 33 states, including California, filed a lawsuit against Meta, claiming that the excessive addictiveness of Facebook and Instagram was damaging the mental health of teenagers.
The European Union (EU) has also launched an official investigation into Facebook and Instagram, claiming they may cause ‘addiction’ to minors. Starting today, anyone under the age of 18 signing up for Instagram in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia will be relegated to a “restricted” teen account.
Teens with existing accounts will be moved to ‘Teen Accounts’ within the next 60 days, while teens in the European Union (EU) will have their accounts adjusted later this year. It will also be applied to other countries starting in January next year. Accordingly, it is expected to be applied in Korea starting next year.
Teen accounts are set to private by default. Private messages are restricted to those the teen follows or is already connected to. Sensitive content is also restricted, and Instagram’s algorithm doesn’t recommend sexual content or content about suicide or self-harm.
If you log into Instagram for more than 60 minutes, you will receive a notification and a ‘sleep mode’ will be activated, which will turn off notifications and automatically send replies between 10 PM and 7 AM. Parents’ supervisory authority is also strengthened.
Teens aged 16 and 17 can turn the setting off, but users under 16 must have parental permission to do so. Parents can also limit Instagram usage time by activating ’supervisory mode’. Meta explained that it can track teenagers if they lie about their age or try to create adult accounts using other devices.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said, “We expect to see a significant decline in our teenage user base,” but added, “While it will certainly hurt in the short term, we believe that building trust and reassuring parents will help our business in the long term.”