Instagram drastically changes rules for minors on the platform

The app, popular with teenagers, has implemented new settings and tools to combat inappropriate interactions, control inappropriate content and promote better sleeping habits for under-18s.

Instagram launched a sweeping overhaul on Tuesday (17) to bolster privacy and limit the intrusive effects of social media for users under 18, as the app faces growing pressure over children’s safety online.

Instagram has announced that accounts for users under 18 will become private by default in the coming weeks, meaning only approved followers will be able to see their posts. The app, which is owned by Meta, also plans to stop notifications for underage users from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., encouraging sleep. Additionally, Instagram will introduce more supervision tools for parents, including a feature that allows parents to see the accounts their teens have recently messaged.

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, said the new settings were created to address key concerns parents have about their children online, such as inappropriate contact, inappropriate content e too much screen time.

“We decided to focus on what parents think, because they know better what’s appropriate for their kids than any tech company, any private company, any senator or legislator,” he said in an interview. Instagram’s new effort, called “Teen Accounts,” is designed to “basically set up” minors with age-appropriate experiences on the app, he said.

The changes represent one of the most comprehensive set of measures ever adopted by an app to address teen social media use, as concerns grow about young people’s experiences online. In recent years, parent groups and child advocates have warned that platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat have exposed children and teens to bullying, predators, sexual extortion and content that promotes self-harm and eating disorders.

In June, Dr. Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon Generalcalled for warnings, similar to those on cigarettes, on social media warning of potential mental health risks. In July, the U.S. Senate passed bipartisan legislation called Kids Online Safety Actimposing security and privacy requirements for children and adolescents on social networks.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, has faced criticism over the risks of social media for young people. Attorneys general in several states have filed lawsuits against his company, accusing Meta of knowingly addicting children to its apps while downplaying the risks. At a congressional hearing on child safety online in January, lawmakers called on Zuckerberg to apologize to families whose children have committed suicide after being abused on social media. “I am so sorry for everything you have been through,” Zuckerberg told the families during the hearing.

It’s unclear how effective Instagram’s new changes will be. Instagram has been promising to protect minors from inappropriate contact and content since at least 2007, when attorneys general warned that Facebook was rife with sexually explicit content and allowed adults to solicit teens. Since then, Instagram has introduced a variety of tools and settings to promote the well-being of young people on its social networks — with varying degrees of success.

In 2021, for example, Instagram announced that new accounts opened by people under the age of 16 would be private by default. At the time, the app allowed younger teens to simply change their account settings to public. This time, 16- and 17-year-olds will be able to opt out of the default privacy settings on their own, but those under 16 will need parental permission to make their accounts public.

Dr. Megan Moreno, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin who studies problematic social media use among teens, said Instagram’s new privacy settings were “significant.” “They set a higher standard for privacy and confidentiality — and take some of the responsibility off the shoulders of teens and their parents,” she said.

However, the changes don’t directly address a glaring problem: young people who lie about their age when signing up for Instagram. The new settings and features will automatically apply to those who identify as minors. And while Instagram’s terms of service prohibit children under 13 from using the app, “Teen Accounts” isn’t designed to find and remove underage users.

Instagram said it removes underage accounts when it becomes aware of them. The company will also require teens to verify their age if they try to circumvent new privacy settings by creating new accounts with an adult birth date. Meta is working on technology to proactively identify teens who create accounts posing as adults.

Children’s rights groups said Instagram’s announcement, which came as Congress prepared to consider child safety legislation, appeared to be an attempt to head off new federal regulations to protect young people online. “These are long-overdue features that Instagram should have implemented years ago to keep young people safe,” said Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media, a children’s media advocacy and evaluation group. “They are acting now because they are under pressure from lawmakers, advocates and the public.”

While the overhaul may be welcomed by parents, some teens — a significant portion of Instagram’s user base — may not be happy with the changes. Teen influencers who keep their accounts public to gain new followers may resist the new rules. Nearly half of American teens between the ages of 13 and 17 use Instagram at least once a day, according to a Pew Research survey, making it the fourth most popular social media platform among young people in the U.S., behind only YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat.

These security measures could hurt Meta’s business in the short term, as the company needs new users to grow and young users to stay relevant. But by implementing these changes now, Instagram is also trying to win over the next generation of young social media users while also reducing the risks they face online.

Mosseri acknowledged that the new safety measures could hurt Meta’s popularity among teens. “It’s definitely going to impact the growth and engagement of young people, and there are a lot of risks,” he said. “But fundamentally, I want us to be willing to take those risks in order to move forward and make progress.”

Other social media apps have also implemented changes for younger users. In 2021, TikTok made accounts private by default for users between the ages of 13 and 15. It also disabled direct messaging for younger teens.

Instagram’s new settings will begin rolling out on Tuesday, with new accounts registered by minors automatically being set to private mode. The app will also soon begin making existing accounts of minors private in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK.

Meta said it will continue to restrict teens on Instagram from sending direct messages to people they don’t follow. The company also said it will show less content in the main Instagram feed from people teens don’t follow and prevent them from being tagged in posts from people they aren’t connected to.

The new options give parents more control over their children’s use of the app, Instagram said. This includes a feature that allows parents to see the topics of posts their children have chosen to view most, as well as the accounts of people their children have recently messaged. However, to protect users’ privacy, parents will not be able to see the content of their children’s messages.

While parents can use this information to start important conversations with their children, experts said the feature could also create tensions for vulnerable teens whose political or gender identities may not align with their parents’ views.

Dr. Moreno, who is also co-medical director of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health, said she is eager to see how teens react to the changes on Instagram. Many young people may be relieved to see their accounts become private, she noted, while others may find getting parental permission to change the default settings a burdensome requirement.

“Young people’s voices will be critical in determining how significant these changes will be,” she said.

Mosseri said developing the new features was tricky for the company as it tried to balance security concerns with personal privacy. “The challenge in this world of online safety, wellness and social media is that there are tradeoffs,” he said. “We think we’ve found a reasonable balance, but I’m sure we’ll get a lot of feedback.”

With information from The New York Times*