Instagram says parents can choose a setting even stricter than a PG-13 rating, with extra controls.
Instagram is also offering parents a feedback mechanism to flag content that teens should not see
Photo Credit: Unsplash/Solen Feyissa
Instagram is going to follow the guidelines of PG-13 movie ratings when it comes to showing content to teen accounts. On Tuesday, the Meta-owned platform announced that teenagers under the age of 18 will be automatically placed into an updated 13+ setting, which they will not be able to opt out of without the permission of one of their parents. The new content restriction comes just months after the social media giant added a feature that lets teen accounts see when another user joined the platform while sending them a direct message (DM).
In a newsroom post, Instagram detailed the new safeguard for teen accounts on its platform. Essentially, what the company is doing is following similar PG-13 rating guidelines as the ones followed by movies and shows in the US. Some of these restrictions include graphic violence, explicit sexual scenes, persistent drug use, repeated use of strong profanity.
The Meta-owned platform stated that this is the "most significant update" to teen accounts since its introduction last year. It builds on the automatic protections, and adds more progressive restrictions on content as a more advanced filter. Additionally, the company has also implemented the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered age prediction technology to place teens, who claim to be adults, into this content protection.
Instagram admits that its system is not perfect, and some suggestive content or strong language might sneak into the content they watch on the platform. However, it also states that the algorithm will continue to improve and the social media giant will keep these instances as rare as possible.
"We hope this update reassures parents that we're working to show teens safe, age-appropriate content on Instagram by default, while also giving them more ways to shape their teen's experience," the post stated.
To provide parents with a granular control over their teenager's experience on the platform, Instagram is also introducing a new, stricter setting for parents that will allow them to set a more restrictive experience. This was developed from the feedback of thousands of parents worldwide.
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