Instagram is adding some protection for teenage users.
The social media platform is set to test teen accounts for users under 18 to make the platform safer. According to reports, the rollout began in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K. and will allow new users under 18 to be automatically placed into restrictive accounts. Teens with current accounts will be transitioned to the new accounts within 60 days.
Meta, who owns Instagram, is aware that there is the possibility of teenagers lying about their age on the app, so they are coming up with a system to identify accounts pretending to be adults. The teen accounts will also be private by default and they will only receive direct messages from people they follow already. Sensitive content on the app will be restricted for teen accounts and lastly, they will receive a notification if they have been on the app for more than 60 minutes.
However, 16 and 17-year-old users have the option to opt out of some of the restrictions. Meta’s head of product, Naomi Gleit, said, “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 are really focused on addressing those three concerns.”
This new rollout comes after Meta has been hit with a lawsuit from multiple states accusing the company of contributing to the youth mental health crisis. What are your thoughts on this?