Instagram is cracking down on child safety. How could it not, after that massive Wall Street Journal investigation called the company out on its child porn problem? Since then, Meta has attempted to save face, recently tightening security for all its teen accounts. Now, it’s taking it a step further with PG-13 guidelines.
And now, like that copy of GTA V you couldn’t buy without one of the BT Games clerks alerting your mother to all of the, uh, unsanitary content, teens need a parent’s permission to turn off the restrictions, regardless of the account holder’s age. Previously, older teens could peel back the restrictions by digging through settings.
Just one F-Bomb, Mom?
In addition to doing everything it can to stop teens from straying across nudity and other sexual content, it’ll do its best to avoid recommendations that go against PG-13 guidelines; swearwords, risky stunts — that sort of thing. Meta went out of its way to align its policies “with an independent standard that parents are familiar with.”
“Just like you might see some suggestive content or hear some strong language in a PG-13 movie, teens may occasionally see something like that on Instagram — but we’re going to keep doing all we can to keep those instances as rare as possible,” Meta wrote in a blog post.
Read More: Facebook’s short-form video content is beginning to look a lot like Instagram’s
Instagram will also keep an eye on the searches teens make, blocking such terms as ‘alcohol’ or ‘gore’, with safeguards being put up to ensure that mispelling the word won’t let it spill out, either. Teens will also be blocked from viewing entire adult-run accounts whose content is deemed 18+. Teens already following adult accounts will no longer be able to see their content, DM them, or even see their comments on other posts.
For the parents who feel PG-13 doesn’t go far enough, Instagram is also adding a new setting it calls ‘Limited Content’, which will “filter even more content from the Teen Account experience.” It will also remove the ability for teens to even see, leave, or receive comments under posts.
These changes will arrive gradually for teen accounts in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada starting today. These countries will serve as Meta’s guinea pigs until the end of the year, after which it will roll out changes globally.
