A social media giant is rolling out new measures to guard teenagers against harm online.
Teenagers 16 years old and under will now be automatically placed under Meta’s Instagram Teen Accounts.
The accounts will come with built-in protections that limit who can contact teens and what content they see.
“This new experience is designed to better support parents, and give them peace of mind that their teens are safe with the right protections in place,” Meta said in a statement.
“Teens will also get access to a new feature, made just for them, that lets them select topics they want to see more of in Explore and their recommendations so they can focus on the fun, positive content they love.”
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
It also allows parents to supervise their child’s scrolling and turn the app off at night.
Meta says that teens under 16 years old will need their parent’s permission to use less protective settings. To get permission, teens will set up parental supervision on Instagram and if parents want more oversight over their child’s account over age 16, they can turn on parental supervision.
“Teens may lie about their age and that’s why we’re requiring them to verify their age in more places, like if they attempt to use a new account with an adult birthday,” Meta said in a statement.
“We’re also building technology to proactively find accounts belonging to teens, even if the account lists an adult birthday. This technology will allow us to proactively find these teens and place them in the same protections offered by Teen Account settings.”
Meta says it plans to place teens into teen accounts within 60 days in the U.S., the U.K., Canada and Australia.
This announcement comes following a roundtable with the B.C. government and legislation introduced in January to hold social media companies responsible for harmful content aimed at children.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.