Meta has announced new protections for teenagers in their Instagram app to prevent those users under 16 from using the live-streaming feature without parental approval.
"In addition to the existing built-in protections offered by Teen Accounts, we're adding new restrictions for Instagram Live and unwanted images in DMs. With these changes, teens under 16 will be prohibited from going Live unless their parents give them permission to do so," the company said in a press release. The new updates will also require adult permission to disable a feature within the app's messages, which automatically blurs images containing potential nudity.
In September of 2024, Meta introduced Teen Accounts for Instagram in response to the growing mental health concerns for underage users being habitually exposed to explicit content through the wildly popular photo sharing app. The company said that roughly 54 million teenagers globally had been moved on to Teen Accounts and the latest changes will be rolled out first to users in the U.K., U.S., Canada, and Australia.
Other features in the Teen Accounts include making the accounts private by default, allowing direct messages only from people they follow or are connected to, and limiting sensitive content young users see. Users also get notified when they've been on the app for more than 60 minutes, and "sleep mode" is enabled at night to disable notifications and to auto-reply to direct messages.
The pernicious effects of social media broadly and Instagram specifically on the world's youth were front and center in the phenomenally successfully Netflix series "Adolescence." The series has been seen by over 114 million households as of Thursday making it the 4th most watched series ever for the streaming platform. A primary plot point is the effect Meta's app and how its "quick to judge, quick to anger" interface has eroded the moral compass of the western world's teenagers.
A Meta commissioned survey noted that 94% of parents that responded said the recent changes are helpful and 84% say the changes have given their teenager a positive experience.