On Tuesday, Instagram announced that it is rolling out its teen accounts feature in India, which includes additional safety measures for its user base in the country—home to more than 350 million users.
The platform initially launched Teen Accounts last year in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia. Meta transitioned the accounts of Instagram users under 16 into these new account types, activating default safety restrictions. By default, these teen accounts are set to private and come with messaging limitations, controls for content accessibility, interaction restrictions, time limit notifications, and a sleep mode feature.
“At Meta, we are committed to fostering a safer and more accountable online environment. By bringing Instagram Teen Accounts to India, we are enhancing safety measures, improving content controls, and empowering parents, all while ensuring a more secure experience for teenagers,” said Natasha Jog, Director of Public Policy India at Instagram, in a recent blog update.
With the introduction of teen accounts, users under 16 will require permission from their parents or guardians to adjust certain settings. Furthermore, for users aged 16 and above, parents will have the option to enable supervision of their child’s account.
Parents can monitor their children’s interactions with others, although they will not have access to the contents of the messages. They can also set daily limits on app usage and restrict access during certain hours.
On the content front, Meta permits users to receive messages only from individuals they are connected with. To determine this connection, the company assesses whether the sender and receiver are friends on any Meta platforms or have previously interacted via Direct Messages without mutual follow. Additionally, teens can only be tagged by accounts they follow.
Meta is proactively filtering out inappropriate language and phrases from teen accounts. The company is also removing content that depicts violence or promotes cosmetic products from the Explore page and Reels. Users can choose topics like Soccer, Crafts, Dance, Music, Cats, Food & Drink, and Computer Science to customize their Explore feed, showcasing related content based on their selections.
To verify user ages, Meta is implementing techniques such as ID verification and capturing video selfies, acknowledging that many teens tend to misrepresent their ages across various platforms.
Last month, India introduced draft regulations pertaining to its data protection law, specifying that companies cannot process data of users under 18 without verified parental consent. Should these regulations be finalized, platforms may be required to implement additional protective measures.
Compiled by Techarena.au.
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