Instagram is introducing a new policy restricting interaction between teenagers and adults to make its platform safer for young users. This app has banned adults from directly sending messages to teenagers who do not follow them, and is introducing “safety tips”. When teenagers send private messages to adults with “potentially suspicious behavior”, they will be shown these tips.
Safety tips will give young users the option to report or block the adults who are sending them messages. These tips will remind young users not to feel pressured to reply to messages, and “be more careful when sharing photos, videos, or messages with people you don’t know.”
The company did not share the details of how these systems work, but said that such suspicious behavior may include “sending a large number of friends or information requests to people under the age of 18.” Facebook’s Instagram stated that this feature will be launched in some countries this month (without specifying which countries it is), and will be launched globally “soon”.
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When a teenager encounters an adult with “suspicious behavior” in a private message, a new safety prompt will appear in the system. Instagram also stated that it is developing new “artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies” to try to detect someone’s age when they sign up for an account.
According to official regulations, the app requires users to be 13 years old and above, but a simple form makes it easy for people to lie about their age. The company said it hopes to do “more to prevent this from happening,” but did not elaborate on how the new machine learning system can help solve this problem.
Teen users who newly sign up for Instagram will now also be encouraged to keep their personal information private. If they still choose to create a public account, Instagram will send them a notification later, “emphasize the benefits of a private account, and remind them to check their settings.”
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