Under this overhaul, the user accounts under 18s will be made “private” by default in the coming weeks, meaning that only subscribers approved by the account holder will be able to see their posts.
The application also plans to stop sending notifications to minors from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., and to introduce more supervision tools for adultsincluding a feature that lets parents see which accounts their children have sent messages to.
According to Adam Mosseridirector ofInstagramthe new settings aim to reassure parents about their children’s safety online, particularly regarding contacts and inappropriate content And excessive use of screens.
These changes allow parents to set daily time limits for app usage, prevent teenagers to use Instagram at certain times and view the categories of content they view.
There Meta’s approach comes at a time when pressure continues to grow against the platform, but also against others social networksas TikTok And Snapchaton which children and adolescents are increasingly exposed to bullyingto the pedophilia and to content promoting self-harm.
Note that the general manager of Meta, Mark Zuckerberghas been particularly criticized recently for the risks that social networks pose for young people.
Several US States have filed lawsuits against his company – which also owns Facebook And WhatsApp –, accused of deliberately attracting children to its applications without taking into account the risks to which they may be exposed.
