Instagram Reveals Several Steps Aimed at Protecting Younger Users

Facebook revealed several changes to its platform, primarily on Instagram, aimed at protecting younger users of its family of applications. The company wrote in a blog post Tuesday, “Creating an experience on Instagram that’s safe and private for young people, but also fun, comes with competing challenges. We want them to easily make new friends and keep up with their interests, but we don’t want them to deal with unwanted DMs or comments from strangers. We think private accounts are the right choice for young people, but we recognize that some young creators might want to have public accounts to build a following.” Starting Tuesday, people under 16 in the U.S. and under 18 in certain countries who join Instagram will be defaulted into private accounts, and users of those ages who are already on the platform will see notifications highlighting the benefits of private accounts and explaining how to change privacy settings. New Instagrammers will have the option of switching to a public account, while existing users can retain their public accounts should they choose to do so. Facebook touted private accounts as the best way for young people to ensure that they don’t hear from adults they don’t know, pointing out that users with private accounts have full control over who can respond to their content, and only followers can see their posts, Reels and Stories. Content on those surfaces cannot be commented on, and content from private accounts is not accessible at all via Explore or hashtags. Instagram had been allowing new users to choose between private and public accounts at signup, and it said recent research showed that younger users appreciated a more private experience, adding that during testing, eight out of 10 people accepted the private default setting while signing up for the application. The Facebook-owned photo- and video-sharing platform also developed new technology to identify potentially suspicious accounts—such as those that were blocked or reported by younger people—and prevent them from interacting with the accounts of younger users. Instagram said those accounts will be barred from seeing the accounts of younger users in Accounts Suggested for You, Explore and Reels, or by user name, and they will not be able to see comments by younger users on other people’s post or leave comments on posts by younger people. These changes took effect Tuesday in Australia, France, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., with more countries to be added soon. Finally, starting in a few weeks, Facebook, Instagram and Messenger From Facebook will only allow advertisers to target users under 18 based on their age, gender and location, and not on options that were previously available to them, such as activity on other apps and websites. The company said it heard from youth advocates that young people may not be well equipped to make decisions on the types of ads they see via Facebook’s ad settings, spurring its more precautionary approach. When people turn 18, they will be notified about targeting options that advertisers can use to reach them and tools they can use to control their ad experience. Instagram wrote in its blog post, “We want young people to enjoy using Instagram while making sure we never compromise on their privacy and safety. We’ll continue listening to them, their parents, lawmakers and experts to build an Instagram that works for young people and is trusted by parents.”

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Instagram Reveals Several Steps Aimed at Protecting Younger Users

Advertisers on the platform, as well as Facebook and Messenger, can only target users under 18 by age, gender, location

David Cohen

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