Instagram, owned by Meta, recently announced the launch of new privacy and parental controls for teenagers on the platform. This move comes in response to increasing concerns about the negative impacts of social media on young users and aims to give parents more control over their children's online experience.
The new Teen Accounts will automatically be set to private with the need to approve new followers. It will include restrictions on messaging, sensitive content, and interactions with other users. Additionally, features such as time limit reminders and a sleep mode will be implemented to help teenagers manage their screen time.
Antigone Davis, Meta's head of global safety, discussed these new safety features in an exclusive interview with FOX Business Network's Madison Alworth. Davis emphasized that the three biggest concerns for parents are who their teens are connecting with on the platform, what content they're seeing, and how much time they're spending online. The Teen Accounts will allow parents to see who their teen has been talking to in the past seven days, without revealing the content of those messages.
Furthermore, parents will have the ability to set daily time limits for Instagram usage, block access during specific time periods, and monitor the content and topics their teen is engaging with. This is aimed at promoting self-regulation among teenagers while providing parents with the means to intervene when necessary.
The new Teen Accounts format will be rolled out to current teen users within the next 60 days in select countries, with plans to expand to other regions in the near future. Meta also mentioned that similar features will be introduced to their other platforms, such as Facebook and Threads, next year.
Overall, the launch of Instagram's Teen Accounts appears to be a proactive step towards addressing parental concerns and promoting a safer online environment for teenagers. While some users may resist these new protections, Meta aims to uphold the safety and well-being of young users on their platforms.