Meta Platforms Inc. is expanding protections for teen users of its Instagram, Facebook and Messenger apps, the latest attempt to quiet critics who say the social-networking company is harming the young.
Teens under age 16 will no longer be able to host live videos without a parent’s permission or share images containing suspected nudity through direct messages, the company said Tuesday. Meta is also rolling out “Teen Accounts” with more stringent privacy settings to users on Facebook and Messenger after releasing them first on Instagram last Sept. Teen Accounts prevent users under the age of 18 from seeing sensitive content, sending private messages to certain users or having public accounts that can be easily discovered. While 16- and 17-year-olds can change those settings, Instagram doesn’t allow younger teens to do so without parental consent.
So far, 97% of teens between ages 13 and 15 have kept those settings turned on, Meta said, adding 54 million users now have Teen Accounts. Under the company’s more restrictive content settings for teens, recent changes to Meta’s policies that permit some hate speech, such as insulting language against transgender and non-binary people, won’t apply to users under the age of 18.
“There is no change to how we treat content that exploits children, or content that encourages suicide, self-injury or eating disorders, nor do our bullying and harassment policies change for people under 18,” a Meta spokesperson said.
The company has taken extra measures to protect teens after years of criticism over its inability to protect young people online.
