Meta is making new steps towards keeping teenagers who use Instagram and Facebook safe from getting messages from people they might not know. Today, the company revealed that teens aged 16 and below (or 18 and below, depending on the country) will no longer be able to receive DMs on Instagram from anyone they don't follow.
In a blog post, Meta stated:
Under this new default setting, teens can only be messaged or added to group chats by people they already follow or are connected to, helping teens and their parents feel even more confident that they won’t hear from people they don’t know in their DMs. Teens in supervised accounts will need to get their parent’s permission to change this setting.
Teens already on Instagram will get a notification alerting them to this new safety default similar to the one shown above.
Similarly, Facebook Messenger users who are age 16 or below (or 18 and below in some countries) will only be able to receive messages from their Facebook friends or if they have thecontact info of the person messaging them.
Meta also revealed that it will soon be adding a new feature for teens on Instagram and Facebook Messsenger to prevent them from seeing "unwanted and potentially inappropriate images" from anyone they are already following or connected to, even if the messages are encrypted. Underaged users will also be strongly advised not to send these kinds of images themselves. More info on this particular feature will be revealed at a later date.
These changes are being put in place even as some governments are taking a closer eye on how social networks enforce their policies concerning teen users. Earlier this month, the Attorney General of Iowa filed a lawsuit against TikTok. She claimed that the iOS version of the app, which is rated for people aged 12 and above, should be rated as a 17+ app due to claims that TikTok shows explicit content regularly to children and teenagers.
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