Instagram is making teen accounts private by default in an attempt to keep the platform safer for children amid a growing backlash, according to AP News.
Starting Tuesday in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, anyone under 18 who signs up for Instagram will be put into restricted teen accounts. Those who already have accounts will be transferred over the next 60 days. Teens in the European Union will see their accounts adjusted later this year.
Meta acknowledges that teens can lie about their age and says they will be required to confirm their age in more cases. The Menlo Park, California-based company, has also stated that it is developing technology that preemptively finds teen accounts posing as adults and automatically puts them into restricted teen accounts.
Teen accounts will be private by default. Private messages are limited, so teens can only receive them from people they are subscribed to or already connected to.
“Sensitive content” would be limited, Meta stated. Teens will also receive notifications if they are on Instagram for more than 60 minutes. “Sleep mode” will turn off notifications and send auto-replies to private messages from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Naomi Gleit, head of product at Meta, stated:
The three concerns we’re hearing from parents are that their teens are seeing content that they don’t want to see or that they’re getting contacted by people they don’t want to be contacted by or that they’re spending too much on the app. So teen accounts is really focused on addressing those three concerns.
The announcement came amid lawsuits from dozens of US states accusing the company of harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis. Instagram and Facebook allegedly intentionally create features that tie children to their platforms.
Meta’s latest changes give parents more control over their children’s accounts. Those under the age of 16 will need permission from a parent or guardian to change their settings to be less restrictive.
According to Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, teen accounts will create a “big incentive for parents and teens to set up parental supervision.”
Parents will be able to see, via the family center, who is messaging their teen and hopefully have a conversation with their teen. If there is bullying or harassment happening, parents will have visibility into who their teen’s following, who’s following their teen, who their teen has messaged in the past seven days and hopefully have some of these conversations and help them navigate these really difficult situations online.
