Safer Scrolling? Meta's Latest Child Safety Push
Meta, which is the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has today announced that they are going to be expanding their “Teen Account” system from Instagram to now also cover Facebook and Messenger.
It can only be assumed at this point that this is happening as a result of the pressure that the introduction of the Online Safety Act in the UK is starting to bring to social media platforms. This can only be a positive action to address the growing impact that social media is having on young people.
What features are being extended to Facebook/Messenger
Private accounts: With default private accounts, teens need to accept new followers and people who don’t follow them can’t see their content or interact with them. This applies to all teens under 16 (including those already on Instagram and those signing up) and teens under 18 when they sign up for the app. (Updated on September 17 at 11:18 AM PT to clarify how private accounts are applied)
Messaging restrictions: Teens will be placed in the strictest messaging settings, so they can only be messaged by people they follow or are already connected to.
Sensitive content restrictions: Teens will automatically be placed into the most restrictive setting of our sensitive content control, which limits the type of sensitive content (such as content that shows people fighting or promotes cosmetic procedures) that teens see in places like Explore and Reels.
Limited interactions: Teens can only be tagged or mentioned by people they follow. We’ll also automatically turn on the most restrictive version of our anti-bullying feature, Hidden Words, so that offensive words and phrases will be filtered out of teens’ comments and DM requests.
Time limit reminders: Teens will get notifications telling them to leave the app after 60 minutes each day.
Sleep mode enabled: Sleep mode will be turned on between 10 PM and 7 AM, which will mute notifications overnight and send auto-replies to DMs.
Globally, over 54 million teenagers under the age of 16 have been moved to the new teen accounts already. This initial rollout is currently only affecting users located in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
Positive reaction to regulation?
It is good to see that there is now a perceived pressure being placed on social media platforms because of the increased regulatory powers that the act has created. The act was designed to compel platforms to take proactive steps to protect children from harmful content online. Today’s announcement can only be seen as an attempt by them to address these concerns and demonstrate that it is taking action to protect children.
It is a positive step in the right direction, but as I always say, the tech world is advancing at great speed, and platforms need to be working hard to keep up with the pace and not wait around for legislation to force them in the right direction. Rather than legal pressure to act, they should be forging ahead to protect children for moral reasons as it is just the right thing to do to protect them from the very worst that hides in the dark corners of the internet.
Encryption still a lingering concern
One of the areas where I feel social media platforms need to act morally is that of end-to-end encryption within messaging apps. I am aware that encryption is vitally important to protect our information and privacy from nefarious criminals and nation-state actors, but it also makes the task of detecting and apprehending those who groom children and proliferate child abuse online.
There is no moral reason why any social media platform should be aiding the evil producers and distributors of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) by protecting them from law enforcement agencies who try to bring them to justice. It is a delicate and complex balancing act between privacy and safety in the digital age we live in, but I honestly believe we should be placing a finger on the scales in favour of safety and providing all information to law enforcement to enable them to unmask and bring to justice the very worst of humanity.
What does this mean for parents?
It offers you as a parent more tools to help safeguard your children online on Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these new features but, more importantly use them!
It is also as I always say, very important to have open and honest communication with your child so that they understand why these features are required and not to try and circumvent them.
Technology can only protect to a certain point, and you need to continually communicate with, educate, take an interest in, and monitor the activities of your child online to ensure they can have the safest possible experience online.
The Meta Family Centre is actually a great resource for parents who take an interest in their child safety and I would certainly advise you to take some time to browse it and also discuss any areas of interest on there with your children.
Well done, Meta, but keep pushing forward and working hard on the next steps to stay ahead of the vile creatures who scour the internet for their next targets.
Thank you for reading, and I hope it has been useful to you, but if you have reached this point, I just want to say thank you for taking an interest in the safety of your child and genuinely caring about them, as often that’s the most important part of it all.
You can also now connect with me on BlueSky
We will have to agree to disagree mate and I hope you never have to experience the darkness I have because nobody deserves it. I do understand the reticence and maybe technology will provide the solution eventually but in my humble opinion there needs to be a legal route to access these communications as there always has been in the past via providers, where a legal requirement is fulfilled and considered by a judge. Unfortunately people haven't experienced first hand the horrors so will always likely fall on your side of the debate.
Can't agree with you about encryption, although I have not experienced the darkness that you have. Given Government attacks on freedom of speech and discussion in the UK, the ability for the majority lf law abiding adults to be able to converse privately without Government oversight and intrusion has never been more important. It is an essential part of ensuring the State does not become too powerful, not to mention more secure for those of us who use these tools because we do not want our sensitive personal data to fall into the wrong hands (hacks, etc). Possibly, we should be looking at ways to identify pictures/media being sent via these networks via hash signatures or some othet kind of reverse engineering methodology. I have no perfect solution, but am absolutely 100% certain that more Government is not the answer.