Instagram's new rules: Teenagers face tougher content controls

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Just two months before Australia's social media ban on children under 16 comes into effect, Instagram has made a significant decision. The photo-sharing app has changed the content available to teens and tightened parental controls on young people's accounts.

Instagram's parent company, Meta, made a global announcement, saying that content available to 13- to 18-year-olds will be equivalent to the US's PG (Parental Guidance)-13 rating, limiting violent or adult content on teen accounts. The company will also adapt its AI interactions with teens to a PG-13 experience, following backlash over reports that the social media company's guidelines for chatbots allow chatbots to "engage children in romantic or sexually explicit conversations."

Teens will also no longer be able to follow accounts that are considered to share age-inappropriate content, such as accounts that have linked OnlyFans accounts in their bio. Teens who already follow these accounts will no longer be able to view or interact with the content, send DMs, or see comments. Accounts affected by the rule change will be notified that teens will no longer be able to follow their accounts.

Blocked search terms will be expanded to a wider range of topics, such as alcohol or bloodshed. According to The Guardian, Instagram's global director of public policy, Tara Hopkins, said that LGBTQ terms like "gay" or "trans" will not be blocked under these changes. Parents will be able to use a stricter setting to prevent teens from viewing, leaving, or receiving comments under posts, and the feature will also further restrict AI interactions by teens. These changes will gradually be implemented on teen accounts in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada starting Tuesday and will be fully implemented by the end of the year. Hopkins denied that the change came after the Australian government's 'advice to reconsider'.