Social media protections are coming to Instagram accounts for anyone under the age of 16, as Meta gives parental control back.
The topic of social media bans for anyone under the of 16 is a hot one at the moment, not least because at least one Australian state has started looking into it, while the federal government also toys with the idea in what will likely be an upcoming election promise.
Some parents want it, while others may prefer exercising more control, and that’s before you come to the problem of what teens and preteens want: they most certainly won’t want to be banned from their platforms of choice, and will start looking for ways to stay connected just as soon as the blocks and bans come online.
Social media services could well be looking into action before any of this come to fruition, however, with Meta rolling out a change for Instagram members under a certain age from this week.
Essentially, if you’re under 16, your account will be converted into an Instagram “Teen Account”, with these accounts locked down in some ways compared to a standard adult account.
An Instagram Teen Account will see several protections switched on automatically, with parents the only ones able to unlock these mechanisms, including messaging restrictions, sensitive content restrictions, tagging and mention limitations, and an automatic private account mode that will mean teen account holders need to approve their new followers as opposed to simply having someone start randomly following.
Restrictions are just one part of the Teen Accounts change: under-age account holders will also get notifications reminding them to leave the app if they’ve been using it for more than an hour each day, while notifications will be switched off between 10PM and 7AM with an Instagram sleep mode.
Switching these protections off will require a parent, effectively making the whole thing parental supervision of sorts, and it will include ways for parents to set daily time limits, check out the topics being looked at, and even see who has been messaging the teen in the past seven days.
Parents won’t be able to view the messages, but they will be able to see the names of other Instagram account holders their teen is talking to, potentially improving security of those accounts in the process.
Officially, these settings and restrictions will start loading in place for Instagram members who have their age listed as under 16. However, there are plenty of teens who may have lied about their age, so what about them?
For teenagers who have lied, they’ll be asked to verify their age in more places, while Meta also reports that it’s using artificial intelligence to proactively find accounts belonging to teens even when an adult’s birthdate has been used. Meta’s AI essentially looks at certain profile signals and interactions with content to work out the profile of a teenager, and uses that to qualify if the account holder is a teen.
When found, those accounts will be placed into the Teen Account rules unless an age verification can happen, essentially locking down an account without outright blocking it.
This is all definitely an approach, and one that may address some parental concerns ahead of the social media blocking conversations, while also ensuring teens still have access.
Australian teens and parents will see it roll out shortly within the next 60 days, alongside members in the US, UK, and Canada, while those around the rest of the world will see this later on and possibly next year. Meanwhile, Meta has said Teen Accounts will roll out to its other platforms next year, suggesting Facebook and WhatsApp could soon see Teen Accounts, as well.
