Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is regularly accused of not doing enough to protect minors on its platforms. After increasing the number of advertisements over the past three years on this thorny issue, the American company is launching “teen accounts” on Instagram, reserved for young people aged 13 to 17; in theory, children under 13 are prohibited from registering there. Instagram is one of the most popular social networks among young people. According to a study by Mediametrie published in February, 66% of French people aged 15 to 24 log on at least once a day.
These accounts were launched on Tuesday 17 September in several countries (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia) and continued until the end of the year in France and the European Union. The new Privacy Policy will be automatically imposed on all underage users of the social network. It brings together several functions, most of which were pre-existing but were optional until now, and will now be activated by default and will increase parental control over their children’s use of the application. “We are going one step beyond what we already offered and what the industry offers”declares World Capucine Tuffier, head of child protection at Meta France.
Specifically, “teen accounts” will be private by default – this is already the case for all minors. They will have the highest level of protection against certain content deemed by Meta to be “sensitive” but not prohibited, such as content showing people fighting: these will not be displayed. The most restrictive version of the “hidden words” option will automatically be activated, which allows offensive expressions to be filtered in comments or private messages. Notifications will be automatically silenced at night, between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. And messaging restrictions will be expanded: from 2021, adults will no longer be able to contact a minor if they are not following them. From now on, this affects all accounts, whether adult or teenager.
“Making life easier for parents”
Parents can already set limits on their children’s accounts, such as defining a daily duration of time spent on the app and specific time slots. Until now, teenagers received a notification urging them to leave Instagram if they breached these rules. From now on, access to the app can be blocked purely and simply during certain time slots or beyond a daily duration of use, set by parents. To do this, parents and children must activate “parental supervision” in the settings of their respective Instagram accounts.
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