The social media giant, Instagram, is trying to make the platform a safer place for teenagers and young adults. For this, Instagram is making all attempts to restrict “adult,” sensitive, and questionable content from its platform for teenagers. The photo and video sharing platform is all set to make its most restrictive filter a default option for new users under 16 years of age.
Instagram will also introduce a new “Settings check-up” feature for existing teenage users. The feature will help users below 16 years old to update their safety and privacy settings. Users will now have the option to control sensitive content across Search, Reels, Hashatges, Accounts You May Follow, and In-Feed Recommendations.
Instagram’s “Standard” option lets the users see some content that is deemed mature sensitive. The “Less” option allows the user to tighten the restrictions for sensitive and mature content. And the “More” options allow them to view sensitive content on the platform.
While users above 18 years of age have the access to “Standard”, “Less,” and “More” options, users below 18 only had access to “Standard” and “Less” options. They could not use the “More” option until they were an adult. Now with the new update, Instagram will allow all the new users who are below 16 years of age to only use the “Less” option.
While the existing teenage users will now have their settings changed, they will receive the prompt to update their privacy settings and change them to a more restricted option.
Talking about the new update, Instagram’s Policy Communications Manager told TechCrunch: “It’s all in an effort for teams to basically have a safer search experience. To not see so much sensitive content and to automatically see less than any adult would on the platform,”
