Meta Inc on Monday announced in a blog post that it is changing its default privacy settings for teenagers who join Facebook and Instagram.
The tech giant said that it is developing new tools and education to stop the spread of self-generated intimate images online. It also said that it is working to remove the message button from Instagram accounts of users aged below 18 years when their profiles are viewed by ‘suspicious’ adults. Accounts are tagged ‘suspicious’ when a minor user blocks or reports an adult.
Users under 16 years (under 18 years in some countries), will automatically have more private settings when they join Facebook or Instagram. It will also encourage minors on the platform to increase their privacy through a couple of settings that allow them to decide who can view their friend list, people, pages, viewers of the posts they are tagged in. The young users will also have an option to review the posts they are tagged in before if hey appear on their profile.
Meta said that it encourages teens who are already on the app to choose more private settings for:
– Who can see their friends list
– Who can see the people, Pages and lists they follow
– Who can see posts they’re tagged in on their profile
– Reviewing posts they’re tagged in before the post appears on their profile
– Who is allowed to comment on their public posts
“The company is also working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to build a global platform for teens who are worried intimate images they created might be shared on public online platforms without their consent,” the blog post added.
This comes a year after Meta rolled out another protection feature that restricted adults from texting teens who they hadn’t befriended.