Instagram✴ has launched a new Teen Accounts feature with enhanced protection and parental controls for teenagers. Now parents can control their children’s activity on the social network, protect them from inappropriate content and limit interaction with strangers.
Image source: Instagram✴
«Teen Accounts are automatically activated for all users under 16 years of age. Such accounts will be subject to restrictions on interaction with other users, access to content, and time spent in the application. The company plans to switch all existing and new teen accounts to this mode over the coming months, starting in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
As reported by TechCrunch, there will be a number of built-in protective mechanisms. Teens will only be able to receive messages from people they follow or have previously communicated with, such as through Facebook✴ Messenger. The ability to tag teenagers in photos and comments will be limited, and an automatic filter will be applied to the publication of obscene expressions in personal messages and comments. In addition, access to certain content, such as fights and beauty treatments, in the Recommendations and Reels sections will also be limited.
To combat excessive use of the platform, Instagram✴ has implemented a “Night Mode” feature that automatically turns off notifications from 22:00 to 7:00. The app also reminds teenagers to take a break after one hour. At the same time, parents will be able to set their own limits on the time spent by their child on Instagram✴, and even completely block access to the application at certain hours. “Instagram✴ previously only subtly prompted teens to close the app if they were using it at night,” TechCrunch notes.
As a result, parents will have more control over their children’s Instagram activity✴. With the updated parental controls feature, they can see who your teen has been communicating with over the past week, although they can’t read the messages themselves. They can also see what topics your teen has subscribed to in the Recommendations section to receive more relevant content. However, the algorithms can still suggest topics to Instagram✴ users that differ from the ones they chose if the app detects that this is what the user finds more interesting.
Note that changes to Instagram✴ occur against the backdrop of criticism from legislators and the public who accuse social networks of insufficient protection of children and adolescents. Previously, it was even proposed to completely prohibit teenagers from using social networks without parental consent. As for Instagram✴, the new rules will not be able to solve the problem if a false age is indicated during registration. In the future, the company plans to introduce “Teen Accounts” on other Meta✴ platforms.