More protection for teenagers on Facebook and Instagram

Until a few years ago, social networks were unavailable to teenagers and young people like today. But now, thanks to the growing technologies, parents give in to their children and provide them with social networks at a young age or even much earlier. At this age, content directly affects the growth and formation of mentalities. Meta Company has made adjustments and updates to control the inappropriate and inconsistent content with the ages of its teenage users. In this article, we will talk more about how many and why.

New content policies for teens

One of Meta's biggest goals is to make the Facebook and Instagram platforms a safe place for teens. Help them see only content that is appropriate for their age. Meta regularly consults with competent people in adolescent development and mental health to understand more precisely what content is suitable for a teenager and which is inappropriate.

For example, consider a person who has and shares thoughts of self-harm and self-harm. This type of content can have adverse effects on teenagers. Now, Facebook and Instagram remove such content in the teen search and display appropriate content in Reels and Explore feeds.

These contents are hidden from teenagers, and even if the person they are following shares such content, they cannot see it.

Meta changes are for people under 18

Parents are always trying to make social networks safe for their children so they are less harmed. Meta understands and supports parents' concerns. As a parent, you can contact Instagram or Facebook support and learn more about the new meta policies.

The changes will soon be applied chiefly to accounts owned by people under 18. These changes will be fully implemented in Meta social networks in the coming months, and more content will be protected. Meta security updates include:

Removal of content containing violence: From now on, all content that is against the rules of Instagram and Facebook and contains violent and hateful content will be removed.

Restrictions on viewing suggested content: From now on, contents that have sexual themes or false information, etc., will not be displayed in the search results of people under 18 years of age. Also, such content will not be seen in the search, explorer, and rails section.

Hide age-inappropriate content: Account restrictions are now applied to teens so that content about self-harm and eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia is hidden from their view, even if it is shared by people they follow.

Advice for teenagers: Update your Facebook and Instagram

Automatically, all teenagers who join Facebook and Instagram users will have the search limits we mentioned. But it is about those who have already used it. Meta now recommends updating their apps to view more secure content.

Hide most content related to suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders

Instagram's policies are that as an adult, you can post and talk about content that deals with suicide, self-harm, and self-disorders.

But in general, watching them is unsuitable for teenagers, and instead of being functional, it can even be harmful. For this reason, such content is hidden from the eyes of people under 18 and will not be seen in the search results on any part of Instagram.

Teens update their privacy settings.

Accounts belonging to people under 18 have a section called Turn on recommended settings. If the teenager turns on this option, he will regularly receive security settings related to viewing appropriate content and privacy recommendations.

Even such accounts can label the content and identify if the content is offensive, contains violence, etc. Such content will be quickly hidden.

Conclusion

Social networks affect the mood and personality of young people more than it seems. People under 18 are more vulnerable, so they need more care. In this regard, Meta Company, which owns two popular social networks, Instagram and Facebook, creates new policies to create a safer environment for teenagers. In this article, we mentioned this company's latest guidelines and explained more about them.