Meta Enhances Safety Features for Teenagers on Instagram

As part of its efforts to strengthen safety usage for young users, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced that teenage accounts on Instagram will be made private by default. This change aims to limit the receipt of private messages to only those from people the teenager follows or is already connected to.

Meta’s decision comes amid growing concerns that the company’s social media platforms, including Instagram and Facebook, are harming young people by deliberately designing features to make them addictive. In October last year, 33 states in the US, including California, filed a lawsuit against Meta, alleging that the excessive addictiveness of its platforms was harming the mental health of teenagers.

The European Union has also launched an official investigation into Facebook and Instagram, citing concerns that the platforms may cause addiction among minors. In response to these concerns, Meta has introduced a range of safety features designed to protect teenage users on Instagram.

Starting immediately, anyone under the age of 18 signing up for Instagram in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia will be assigned a “restricted” teen account. Existing teenage accounts will be transitioned to teen accounts within the next 60 days, while accounts in the European Union will be adjusted later this year. The changes are expected to be rolled out to other countries, including Korea, starting in January next year.

Teen accounts on Instagram will be set to private by default, restricting private messages to only those the teenager follows or is already connected to. Additionally, sensitive content will be hidden from view, and Instagram’s algorithm will not recommend content related to sex, suicide, or self-harm.

Instagram will also introduce a feature that notifies users when they have been active on the app for more than 60 minutes, activating a “sleep mode” that turns off notifications and automatically sends replies between 10 PM and 7 AM.

Parents’ supervisory authority has also been strengthened, allowing them to limit Instagram usage time by activating “supervisory mode.” Teenagers aged 16 and 17 can opt out of this feature, but users under 16 must have parental permission to do so.

Meta has also developed technology to track teenagers who attempt to lie about their age or create adult accounts using other devices. The company is also working on a system to predict whether someone who claims to be an adult is actually a teenager.

According to Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, the introduction of these safety features is expected to result in a significant decrease in the number of teenage users on the platform. However, Mosseri believes that the long-term benefits of gaining trust from parents and reassuring them about the safety of the platform will outweigh any short-term losses.