Instagram Introduces Restrictions for Minors

(Patria) - The social network Instagram is introducing changes for teenagers for greater protection, reports Index.hr.

Teen accounts on Instagram, for children under 18, will be set to default settings.

Their posts, or rather their profile, will be automatically set to private, meaning that people who do not follow them will not be able to see them, writes The Guardian.

Instagram is also introducing new parental supervision tools to give parents insight into what their children are doing on social networks.

Changes to account settings for teenagers include giving parents the ability to set daily time limits for using the app, blocking teenagers from using Instagram at certain times, reviewing accounts their child is messaging, and reviewing content categories they view.

To change the settings related to private profiles on teen accounts, all those under 16 will need parental permission, while those aged 16, 17, or 18 will be able to change them themselves.

After a person under 16 tries to change their settings, parental control features will allow adults to set new time limits, block access to the app at night, and review who their child is messaging.

These changes come after the Australian government announced plans to raise the age limit for accessing social media.

Meta's global safety director, Antigone Davis, said the decision to introduce teen accounts was made by parents, not government laws or proposals.

"Parents everywhere are thinking about these issues. Technology is quite pervasive at the moment and parents are thinking about it.

From a youth safety perspective, it really makes the most sense to think about these things globally and solve parents' problems globally," she told The Guardian Australia.

Teen accounts are being introduced this week in the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia, and will arrive in the EU later this year.

The problem remains that many teenagers lie about their age when registering. However, Instagram plans to develop technology to help identify and block such accounts.