Teenagers on Instagram will soon be automatically placed in a new type of account with built-in privacy restrictions that give parents more control, reports
NBC News (17 September, Yang). On Tuesday, Meta, the social media platform’s parent company, began rolling out its “teen accounts” feature, which aims to put all teens — including those who may try to lie about their ages — into private accounts that can be messaged, tagged, or mentioned only by people they already follow. It's the company's most significant move yet to manage how minors use Instagram. The feature is Meta's latest effort to combat child safety issues across its platforms. In recent years, the company has released a variety of features and opt-in restrictions aimed at teen users, including parental supervision controls. But so far, they have been sporadically applied. Naomi Gleit, head of product at Meta, said it has been working to bundle new and existing tools into a more standardized package. “Everyone under 18, creators included, will be put into teen accounts,” Gleit said. “They can remain public if their parent is involved and gives them permission and is supervising the account. But these are pretty big changes that we need to get right.” Aside from the new privacy limits, such accounts will also be placed in the most restrictive content setting that limits potentially sensitive content from accounts they don't follow. The accounts will have the Hidden Words feature on, as well, meaning offensive words or phrases should be automatically filtered from any comments or direct messages they receive.
From "Instagram to Automatically Put Teens into Private Accounts with Increased Restrictions and Parental Controls"
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