Meta has been accused of displaying inappropriate content to users under 18, even allowing underaged children who are 13 years old or younger on its platforms. Now, the social media giant is taking a step in the right direction by restricting content for minors.
Meta's New 'Age-Appropriate Experiences'
The company has developed tools and resources that can help parents monitor their children's activities and access online, but that has not been enough, evidently. With that said, Meta is taking on a more effective approach by implementing additional protections.
With Meta's restrictions, account holders under the age of 18 will start seeing a more friendly feed for both Instagram and Facebook. The restrictions will also apply to posts that were published by someone they already follow.
The new restrictions are already automatically placed for teens who are just creating new accounts on Facebook and Instagram, and will also be extended to teen users who are already on the app.
These new settings fall under Instagram's "Sensitive Content Control" and "Reduce" for Facebook. These new controls will not only limit inappropriate content from feeds but Search and Explore tabs as well.
"Meta is evolving its policies around content that could be more sensitive for teens, which is an important step in making social media platforms spaces where teens can connect and be creative in age-appropriate ways," Meta expressed in its blog post.
The company claims that it will not remove all sensitive topics where people share their experiences about mental and physical struggles like self-harm and eating disorders. The policy will only make that kind of content harder to find for teens.
Certain search prompts will instead lead to a result that states: "Help is available." Under the statement, there are three options that the user can explore such as "Contact a helpline," "Reach out to a friend," and "See suggestions from professionals outside of Meta."
A Welcome Change from Previous Accusations
This serves as a positive note for Meta considering that the company has been accused of ignoring kids under 13 on its platforms. In the lawsuit addressing the very topic, it was mentioned that Meta would automatically ignore reports of underage users.
Furthermore, Meta allegedly continues to collect the child's personal information if there are no photos associated with the account. The states expressed that using Meta's own age-estimation algorithm, it has been confirmed that there are millions of minors on both Instagram and Facebook.
As per Ars Technica, Meta denies the allegations, saying that it promptly deletes underaged accounts after they are reported. As for the undeleted accounts, the company reasoned that the delayed action was due to a lack of staff.
In addition to that, Meta claims that the complaining states mischaracterize their work by using "selective quotes and cherry-picked documents." Either way, Meta already has a bad reputation when it comes to gathering and using data anyway.
While the restriction is the user's choice, the parents or guardians can still step in and use the parenting tools that Meta has provided. The Family and Parent Supervision tools have been accessible since March 2022.
