Instagram introduces stricter safety features to protect minors on the platform

Instagram is continuing with its efforts to make the platform safer for its young user base and has introduced updates on new features and resources. In order to protect teens from unwanted contact from adults, Instagram is introducing a new feature that prevents adults from sending messages to people under 18 who don’t follow them. In a blog, Instagram explained that “when an adult tries to message a teen who doesn’t follow them, they receive a notification that DM’ing them isn’t an option. This feature relies on our work to predict peoples’ ages using machine learning technology, and the age people give us when they sign up.”

In addition to this, in the coming weeks, Instagram will start exploring ways to make it more difficult for adults who have been exhibiting potentially suspicious behaviour to find, follow and interact with teens. “This may include things like restricting these adults from seeing teen accounts in ‘Suggested Users’, preventing them from discovering teen content in Reels or Explore, and automatically hiding their comments on public posts by teens,” Instagram said in its blog.

A user has to be at least 13 years of age to use Instagram. New users will now be required to provide their age when they sign up for an account for some time. To meet the challenge in the case when young users lie about their age, Instagram is developing new artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to help the platform keep teens safer and apply new age-appropriate features.

Along with these, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing platform is also empowering parents to keep track of their kids’ online presence. In February 2021, Instagram had launched a parent’s guide, ‘How to Talk With Your Teen About Instagram’, which was aimed at equipping parents with the tools they need to start the dialogue with their children. Instagram has updated the guidelines with the latest safety tools and privacy settings, as well as a list of tips and conversation starters to help parents navigate discussions with their teens about their online presence. This updated Guide has been launched with expert partners in the US, Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico and Singapore, and will continue to be rolled out in more countries soon.

Instagram is also encouraging the young users to be cautious in conversations with adults they’re already connected to, via prompts or safety notices. Instagram in its blog explained that “safety notices in DMs will notify young people when an adult who has been exhibiting potentially suspicious behavior is interacting with them in DMs”… and give kids an option to end the conversation, or block, report, or restrict the adult.

Moreover, a new step was recently added when someone under 18 signs up for an Instagram account, they are given the option to choose between a public or private account. “Our aim is to encourage young people to opt for a private account by equipping them with information on what the different settings mean,” Instagram said in its blog.