Meta to hide harmful content from teenagers on Instagram and Facebook

After facing pressure from regulatory authorities around the world, Meta said it will start hiding harmful content from teenagers using Instagram and Facebook. The move comes after the social media network company was accused of making the platforms addictive and harmful to teenagers’ mental health by more than 33 U.S states. The European Commission had also asked Meta for information on how it plans to protect children from harmful content online.

Meta says that it will now start removing self-harm content from Instagram and Facebook along with other age-inappropriate content. On Instagram, teenagers will no longer see any content in the app’s Reels and Explore section that talks about self-harm, even if it is from someone they know.

Once enforced, the new Instagram and Facebook policies will automatically default teenage users to the most restrictive settings and prevent them from searching for topics like suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. While the platform will allow users to share such content, Meta said that users who post such content will be redirected to expert resources so they can get help. This update will be rolled out to everyone in the coming weeks.

 

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For teenagers already using Instagram and Facebook, the tech giant will send notifications asking them to enhance their safety and privacy settings on social media networks. If they opt to ‘Turn on recommended settings’, Meta will enforce certain restrictions and prevent people from reposting their content, tagging and mentioning or including that profile in Reels Remixes.

In January last year, the tech giant updated its policy, limiting advertisers on how they can use data to target teens to age and location only and made changes to the ads teenagers could see on the platform.

 

Source : indianexpress.com