Meta’s expanding its protections for teen accounts once again, with some new features on Instagram that aim to raise awareness of its various blocking and reporting tools, and make it easier for youngsters to avoid potential harm.
First off, Meta’s adding a new “Safety Tips” prompt within chats, which will provide a quick link to tips on how to spot scammers and take extra care when engaging with strangers.
As you can see in this example, teen users will also be able to immediately block any account via quick links, while Meta’s also added more information as to when the account was created for context.
Meta’s also added a combined block and report option within DMs, as another means to simplify the process.
As per Meta:
“While we’ve always encouraged people to both block and report, this new combined option will make this process easier, and help make sure potentially violating accounts are reported to us, so we can review and take action.”
Meta’s also expanding its protection features for adult-managed teen accounts, and removing all teen accounts, of all types, from recommendations to potentially suspicious adults.
And adult-managed teen accounts are clearly a concern:
“Earlier this year, our specialist teams removed nearly 135,000 Instagram accounts for leaving sexualized comments or requesting sexual images from adult-managed accounts featuring children under 13. We also removed an additional 500,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts that were linked to those original accounts.”
Yeah, this remains, and will remain, a significant problem, for which all platforms need to strengthen and promote their safety elements.
These latest updates add to Meta’s existing teen protection processes within DMs, including location data, nudity protection, restrictions on who can message younger users, and more.
And Meta says that these measures have been effective:
“In June, teens and young adults also saw our new Location Notice on Instagram 1 million times, with 1 in 10 tapping on the notice to learn more about the steps they could take […] Since rolling out our nudity protection feature globally, 99% of people – including teens – have kept it turned on, and in June, over 40% of blurred images received in DMs stayed blurred, significantly reducing exposure to unwanted nudity.”
This remains a critical area of focus, for all platforms, and it’s good to see Meta continuing to improve and refine its systems to both protect young users and maximize their awareness of its various tools.
At the same time, Meta has also put its support behind new initiatives to increase the age of social media access.
Several EU member nations are pushing to establish a common Digital Majority Age across EU member states, which, in its present form, would likely restrict social media access to those over 15, though that could also be increased to 16 after consultation.
Meta says that it supports this, which, I suspect, is a strategic move as much as a moral one. But either way, that could be another significant step in protecting its most vulnerable users.
