Instagram debuts Teen Accounts as criticism of impact on teen mental health grows
Instagram parent Meta (META) announced a series of features for the social network on Tuesday that it says are designed to protect teen users from interacting with inappropriate accounts and content. Meta says it will automatically begin putting teen users into Instagram Teen Accounts beginning today. The feature puts limits on who teens can message, who can tag them, and what they see in the app.
Users’ accounts will be put into private mode, meaning teens will need to accept new followers and that people who don’t follow them can’t see their content. Teens will only be able to message people they follow or are connected with.
Sensitive content control will keep teen users from being able to see things like fighting or posts promoting cosmetic procedures in their Explore and Reels tabs, while time limit reminders will tell teens to leave the app after using it for 60 minutes in a day. A sleep mode will also turn on between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., muting notifications and sending automatic replies to messages.
Teens under 16 will have to get their parents to change any settings, and in the future, the company says, parents will be able to change app settings without their teens sending requests first.
Meta’s Instagram Teen Accounts comes after 42 state attorneys general called on Congress to allow Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to affix a warning label to social media apps in a letter last week. In the note, the attorneys general said social media platforms are fueling a “mental health crisis” among young people and that a surgeon general’s warning on algorithm-powered social platforms could help address the matter.
“A growing body of research links young people’s use of those social media platforms to a variety of serious psychological harms, including depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation,” the attorneys general wrote in their letter to Congressman Mike Johnson and Senators Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell.
“Algorithm-driven social media use also interferes with adolescents’ daily life by chronically disrupting their sleep with irresistible algorithmic recommendations, infinite scrolling, and a constant stream of notifications designed to keep kids relentlessly engaged on the platform.”
The letter follows a New York Times op-ed Murthy wrote in June in which he laid out his case for why social media platforms need surgeon general warnings and requested that Congress pass legislation to curtail social media’s impact on younger users.
“Legislation from Congress should shield young people from online harassment, abuse and exploitation and from exposure to extreme violence and sexual content that too often appears in algorithm-driven feeds," he wrote.
Meta says it’s working to ensure teens don’t access content outside of Instagram Teen Accounts by requiring them to verify their age if they try to use a new account tied to their old account with an adult birthday to make them appear older.
The company also says it’s building technology to identify accounts set up by teens lying about their birthdays to get access to the full Instagram experience. Meta says the capability will allow it to automatically move offending accounts into Instagram Teen Accounts even if they use adult birthdays.
The company, however, points out that it will take more than app changes to prevent teens from skirting app rules, saying it’s important for companies and governments to work together to find a solution.
Meta is facing an onslaught of lawsuits related to teen use of its social media apps. In 2023, a series of states filed a lawsuit against Meta for allegedly designing its platforms to be addictive to teens. In February, New York City joined a long list of school districts suing social media companies over what they say are negative effects of their platforms.
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