Instagram has installed a new privacy setting which will default all new and existing underage accounts to an automatic private mode.
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Meta will now limit the content that teenage users can see on Instagram to what they would typically encounter in a movie rated PG-13, the social media company said Tuesday.
With the new content guidelines, Meta said it will hide certain accounts from teenagers, including those that share sexualized content or media related to drugs and alcohol. Additionally, teenagers on Instagram will not be recommended posts that contain swear words, though teen users can still search for it.
The changes come after the company has faced waves of criticism over its handling of child-safety and related mental health concerns on its platform.
As part of the changes, Instagram accounts with names or biographies with links to adult-themed websites like OnlyFans or liquor stores will be hidden from teens, the company said. Teen Instagram users will no longer able to follow those kinds of accounts, and if they already do, they will be unable to see or interact with the more adult-leaning content that they share.
Meta executives said during a media briefing that while the company’s previous content guidelines were already in line or exceeded PG-13 standards, some parents said they were confused about what kinds of content teens could view on Instagram. To provide clarity, Meta decided to more closely standardize its teen-content policies with movie ratings that parents could better understand, the executives said.
“We decided to more closely align our policies with an independent standard that parents are familiar with, so we reviewed our age-appropriate guidelines against PG-13 movie ratings and updated them accordingly,” the company said in a blog post. “While of course there are differences between movies and social media, we made these changes so teens’ experience in the 13+ setting feels closer to the Instagram equivalent of watching a PG-13 movie.”
The social media company has come under fire from lawmakers who claim that it fails to adequately police its platform for child-safety related issues.
The company then known as Facebook came under fire in 2021 when The Wall Street Journal published a report citing internal company research that showed how harmful Instagram was for teenage girls specifically. Other reports have also shown how easily teenagers can use Instagram to find drugs, including through ads run by the company.
Over the past year, Meta has rolled out several features intended to provide parents more transparency about how their teenagers are using the company’s apps. In July, Meta debuted new safety tools intended to make it easier for teenage Instagram users to block and report accounts as well as receive more information about who they interact with on the platform.
In August, the watchdog Tech Transparency Project released a report that alleged Meta’s ties and sponsorship of the National Parent Teacher Association “gives a sheen of expert approval” to its “efforts to keep young users engaged on its platforms.” The National PTA said in a statement that it doesn’t endorse any social media platform, while Meta said at the time that it is “proud to partner with expert organizations to educate parents about our safety tools and protections for teens, as many other tech companies do.”
Meta said its new Instagram content guidelines will begin rolling out Tuesday in the U.S., UK, Australia and Canada before expanding to other regions.
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