Instagram cracks down on minors' profiles . Meta's platform introduces for the first time the system of "teen accounts" with automatic protections that limit who can contact them and the content they can see.

Minors' profiles will automatically be configured as "teen accounts". In particular, minors under 16 will need to have a parent's permission to change their settings, should they wish to make them less restrictive.

The change will be implemented within 60 days in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. In the European Union "later this year" .

"With Teen Accounts, teens will be placed under the most restrictive setting of our sensitive content controls, further reducing the likelihood of their content being recommended and in many cases hiding it entirely. These are major updates that will change the Instagram experience for tens of millions of teens ," Meta explains in an official post.

The announcement comes amid growing global pressure from governments and experts on tech companies to protect teens online. A few days ago, Italian educators and entertainment personalities launched an appeal to ban smartphones for under-14s and social media for under-16s.

Among the protections being implemented for Instagram profiles for teenagers are the automatic activation of the private profile configuration; a restriction of messages only from contacts; a limitation of sensitive content; a crackdown on mentions and the deactivation of notifications between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.; and a reminder that invites teenagers to exit the app after 60 minutes of daily use .

Teens under 16 will need to have their parents' permission to use the less restrictive default settings by activating the supervision function. For kids over 16, the option to activate supervision remains valid to allow parents to have more control over their children's experience.

With the latter, parents can also choose to block access to Instagram during certain periods of time, regardless of age.

For those who lie about their date of birth, Meta reminds us that "on several occasions it requires age verification" and explains that it is developing "a technology that will allow us to proactively identify accounts belonging to teenagers, even if the account shows the date of birth of an adult, which will be tested in the United States early next year".

(Online Union)

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