Lucknow Press
New Delhi. Meta has upgraded the better privacy and security feature for users under the age of 18 on Instagram. Apart from this, Instagram has also introduced parental control, which means that now the control of the account of teenagers will be with their parents.
Now all Instagram accounts under 18 years of age will be converted to “Teen Accounts”
Instagram has said that now all Instagram accounts under the age of 18 will be converted into “Teen Accounts”, which will be private by default. The advantage of private accounts is that only those people can contact the users of these accounts whom they follow and give permission.
Meta also released a new monitoring tool
Apart from this, users under the age of 16 will be able to change the default i.e. private settings only with the permission of their parents. Meta has also released a new monitoring tool with the help of which parents will be able to control their child’s account and see how much time they are spending on Instagram and with whom they are talking.
Decision had to be taken under compulsion
Let us tell you that Meta, ByteDance’s TikTok and Google’s YouTube are already facing hundreds of lawsuits filed by children and schools regarding the ill effects of social media on children due to social media addiction. Last year, 33 US states including California and New York sued the company for misleading people about the horrors of its platform.
US Senate passed the bill
To remind you, major platforms including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok allow users aged 13 and above to sign up. In July this year, the US Senate advanced two online safety bills, The Kids Online Safety Act and The Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act.
These bills will force social media companies to ensure that their platforms are not harmful to children and teens. After the new update, Instagram users under the age of 18 will be notified to close the app after 60 minutes a day. These accounts will also have a default sleep mode, which will close the app at night.
