UPDATE - Instagram to automatically place teens in built-in protections

UPDATES WITH ADDITIONAL INFO, COMMENTS

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Instagram introduced Teen Accounts that will automatically place teens in built-in protections, its parent company Meta Platforms said Tuesday in a statement.

The new measure, which will limit who can contact teens and the content they see, and help to ensure their time is well spent, also aims to reassure parents that teens are having safe experiences.

"We know parents want to feel confident that their teens can use social media to connect with their friends and explore their interests, without having to worry about unsafe or inappropriate experiences," said the statement.

"We understand parents’ concerns, and that’s why we’re reimagining our apps for teens with new Teen Accounts," it added. "This new experience is designed to better support parents, and give them peace of mind that their teens are safe with the right protections in place."

Teens, in addition, will also get access to a new feature that will allow them to select topics they want to see more of.

"Teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to change any of the built-in protections to be less strict within Teen Accounts," the statement said.

Meta said teens need to accept new followers, while people who do not follow them cannot see their content or interact with them.

They will be placed in the "strictest" messaging settings, so they can only be messaged by people they follow or are already connected to.

The most restrictive setting limits the type of sensitive content, such as content that shows people fighting, or promotes cosmetic procedures that teens see in places like Explore and Reels.

Teens, in addition, can only be tagged or mentioned by people they follow, according to Meta.

"We’ll also automatically turn on the most restrictive version of our anti-bullying feature, Hidden Words, so that offensive words and phrases will be filtered out of teens’ comments and DM requests," said the statement.

The new measures also include "time limit reminders" as teens will get notifications telling them to leave the app after 60 minutes each day.

Moreover, "Sleep mode" will be turned on between 10.00 p.m. and 7.00 a.m., which will mute notifications overnight and send auto-replies to DMs.

"Given that parents today are grappling with the benefits and challenges of the internet and digital media for their teens, our association applauds Meta for launching Instagram Teen Accounts," National PTA President Yvonne Johnson said in the statement.

"With teens automatically placed in Teen Accounts and certain privacy settings turned on by default, this update demonstrates that Meta is taking steps to empower parents and deliver safer, more age-appropriate experiences on the platform," she added.

Meta said if parents want more oversight over their older teen’s experiences, ages 16 or above, they have to turn on parental supervision. After that, they can approve any changes to these settings, irrespective of their teen’s age.

"Younger adolescents are more vulnerable as their skills are still emerging and require additional safeguards and protection," said Rachel Rodgers, PhD associate professor of Applied Psychology at Northeastern University. "Overall, the settings are age-specific, with younger and older teens being offered different protections."