Instagram announced recently that it’s rolling out new teen user protections that mirror the rules governing movie ratings, and that teen accounts will be limited to seeing content that is PG-13. So, keep it clean, folks: Using more than one f-bomb could now get you booted from the teens’ feeds.
How we got here: Facing backlash over how kids interact with its platforms, Meta started automatically making any Instagram account set up by someone under the age of 18 a “Teen Account” last year. This sets the account to private, pauses notifications from 10pm to 7am, and limits what kind of content can be seen in Reels or on the Explore page.
The new restrictions will further constrain what content teens can access:
They will block entire accounts that post 18+ content, such as drugs, sex, and maybe even rock ’n’ roll, from teens’ view, and prevent teen users from following handles that have inappropriate usernames or links in bios directing people to sites like OnlyFans or liquor stores.
The new rules will apply even in cases where teens have already been following an “adult” account (they won’t be able to view the offending content anymore).
The change will also bar teens from seeing search results for things like “gore” and “alcohol.”
The bots have to follow the rules too
This is the first safety update that Meta has implemented for the AI chatbots that Instagram recently introduced.
A report from Reuters released in August found that Meta’s AI rules let these bots have “sensual” DMs with minors. The new rules say these chats won’t go past PG-13 topics with users under 18.
Big picture: Tech companies have been bombarded with public and political pressure to address the unsavory content they seem to be feeding underage users for as long as you could set your relationship status to “it’s complicated” for attention.
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