Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is regularly accused of not doing enough to protect minors on its platforms. After having made many announcements over the past three years on this thorny issue, the American company is launching "teenage accounts" on Instagram, reserved for 13 to 17-year-olds – those under 13 are theoretically forbidden to join. Instagram is one of the most popular social media sites among young people. According to a Mediametrie study published in February, 66% of French people aged 15-24 connect to it at least once a day.
In place from Tuesday, September 17, across several countries (US, Canada, UK, Australia) and by the end of the year in France and the European Union, these accounts, intended to be more protective, will be automatically imposed on all minors using Instagram. They bring together several features, most of them pre-existing but hitherto optional, which will now be activated by default and extend parents' control over their child's use of the application. "We're going one step further than what we were already proposing, and what the industry is proposing," said Capucine Tuffier, in charge of child protection at Meta France.
In concrete terms, "teenager accounts" will be private by default – this is already the case for all minors. They will have the maximum level of protection against certain content deemed "sensitive" by Meta but not banned, such as those showing people fighting; this type of content will not be displayed. The most restrictive version of the "hidden words" option, which filters out offensive expressions in comments or private messages, will be activated automatically. Notifications will be automatically turned off at night, between 10 pm and 7 am. And restrictions on messaging will be extended: Since 2021, adults have been unable to contact a minor if they are not following each other. From now on, this will apply to all accounts, adult or teenager.
Parents were already able to set limits on their children's accounts, such as defining a daily time limit and specific time slots. Until now, teenagers would receive a notification prompting them to leave Instagram if they failed to comply with these rules. From now on, access to the application can simply be blocked during certain time slots or beyond a daily duration of use, set by the parent. To do this, parents and children will need to activate "parental supervision," in the settings of their respective Instagram accounts.
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