Instagram to Begin Defaulting Accounts for New Users Under the Age of 16 to Private

guest · Jul 27, 2021

Instagram to Begin Defaulting Accounts for New Users Under the Age of 16 to Private
July 27, 2021
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/07/27/instagram-defaulting-accounts-for-young-users/

Instagram will now automatically default the accounts of users on its platform under the age of 16 to "private" during initial account set-up, meaning only followers that a user accepts and approves of will be able to see their photos, videos, and posts, the company announced today.

Instagram has been on a recent push to make its platform safer and more secure for younger users, which make up a considerable amount of the platform's demographic. Instagram says that research concluded that eight out of ten "young users" who signed up for its platform choose to make their account private rather than public.
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The company today also announced several other changes coming to the platform, including updated rules for advertisers.
The Facebook-owned app says that in a few weeks, it will no longer allow advertisers to target ads for users under the age of 18 based on their age, gender, or location.
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Instagram: Giving Young People a Safer, More Private Experience

Creating an experience on Instagram that’s safe and private for young people, but also fun comes with competing challenges. We want them to easily make new friends and keep up with their family, but we don’t want them to deal with unwanted DMs or comments from strangers. We think private accounts are the right choice for young people, but we recognize some young creators might want to have public accounts to build a following.

We want to strike the right balance of giving young people all the things they love about Instagram while also keeping them safe.
That’s why we’re announcing changes we’ll make today, including:
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Defaulting young people into private accounts.

Making it harder for potentially suspicious accounts to find young people.

Limiting the options advertisers have to reach young people with ads.

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Stopping unwanted contact
Encouraging young people to have private accounts is a big step in the right direction when it comes to stopping unwanted contact from adults.
We’ve developed new technology that will allow us to find accounts that have shown potentially suspicious behavior and stop those accounts from interacting with young people’s accounts.
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“It is good to see Instagram utilizing technological solutions to minimize the opportunities for adults who behave suspiciously on the app to discover minors. This is a strong move to build on their work earlier this year to prevent all unconnected adults from being able to message minors. I appreciate the new policy to default new users who say they are under 16 years of age to a private account. We routinely recommend that teens have all of their social media profiles set to private so that they have better control over who can see what they post. Defaulting to private just makes sense as adolescents explore the boundaries of what they want to share with whom.”

—Justin Patchin, Co-director | Cyberbullying Research Center
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guest · Sep 3, 2022

Instagram will limit sensitive content for new teen users by default
Existing users under the age of 16 years old will be asked to switch to the most restrictive content setting.
By Amrita Khalid @askhalid - August 25, 2022

Instagram will automatically switch on its most restrictive content filter for any new users who are under 16 years old — and recommend that existing teen users do the same, the platform announced today in a blog post. Instagram renamed its existing content settings earlier this summer, which are now categorized as “Less”, “Standard” and “More” and allow users to limit content containing violence, sexual imagery, cosmetic procedures and other “sensitive” subjects.

Now, new Instagram users under 16 years old will have the “Less” setting turned on by default, which will affect the type of content they see throughout the platform [...]
The content settings only apply to accounts that teens don't currently follow.
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And for teens who are allowed to roam free on Instagram, it’s hard to imagine how many will willingly switch on the most restrictive content settings — especially if many of their peers pick the more lenient filter.
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Instagram: Updates to the Sensitive Content Control

The Sensitive Content Control has only two options for teens: “Standard” and “Less.” New teens on Instagram under 16 years old will be defaulted into the “Less” state. For teens already on Instagram, we will send a prompt encouraging them to select the “Less” experience.

This will make it more difficult for young people to come across potentially sensitive content or accounts in Search, Explore, Hashtag Pages, Reels, Feed Recommendations and Suggested Accounts.
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Instagram to Begin Defaulting Accounts for New Users Under the Age of 16 to Private

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