By Kayla DeKraker
Instagram will improve its parental controls, a major win for parents with children on social media as the Meta-based app updates the controls on their newly released Teen Accounts.
“What we’re announcing today is that…we’ve revamped all of our guidelines about what teens can and cannot see on Instagram in a way that is guided by the PG-13 rating that was pioneered by the movie industry,” Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, told TODAY’s Craig Melvin.
Melvin looked through different Instagram videos, such as one including LeBron James promoting alcohol, and asked Mosseri if children will not have access to that kind of content.
“That would be the case unless you actually asked your parent for permission to what’s called More Content, so to be able to see all the same content that…an adult could see,” Mosseri confirmed.
The new feature puts parents back in control, allowing them to decide what is appropriate for their children. Another advantage of the Teen Accounts is that the controls are turned on by default, meaning even if parents don’t set additional controls, their child will be better protected from harmful content.
Related: Facebook, Instagram ‘The New Tobacco,’ Says Legal Expert
“Parents don’t have to do anything,” Mosseri explained. “So the way it works is by default. Every teen that has a teen account will be in the 13-plus rating, which means that the content they see on Instagram will largely align with a PG-13 movie.”
“Now, like in a PG-13 movie, where you might actually occasionally hear a swear word, you will occasionally come across content that might be risky because we either missed it or because it was said by a friend,” he admitted. “But, generally, there is a lot more restriction on what you can’t see.”
He continued, “There’ll be more restrictions in both directions. So, a teen is in the 13 plus setting by default, and a parent can open up their content to be able to see adult content as well, or if they think it’s appropriate for their teen, they can limit what their teen can see to what’s called limited content, which is even more restrictive than 13 plus.”
Meta noted in a press release that the update makes it more difficult for teens to pretend to be adults.
“This is the most significant update to Teen Accounts since we introduced them last year, and builds on the automatic protections already provided by Teen Accounts to hundreds of millions of teens globally,” it reads. “We know teens may try to avoid these restrictions, which is why we’ll use age prediction technology to place teens into certain conte2nt protections — even if they claim to be adults.”
Although this is a positive step in combatting social media’s dangers, parents should still consider whether their children should be on those platforms at all.
The Kids Mental Health Foundation states, “While there are benefits for some children, research shows that kids who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media have higher risk of mental health concerns like anxiety and depression. Social media can be even riskier for children diagnosed with ADHD, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.”
The foundation also gives several tips for protecting kids online, including to “Avoid detailed public profiles” and to “restrict advertising.”
We can be thankful that companies such as Instagram are working to protect children while at the same time knowing parents are ultimately responsible for keeping their kids safe online.
Read Next: Instagram Tests New Feature To Protect Your Kids
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
– Content: +1Share:
– Content: +2