Sorry kids, but these new features are good for you
With more dangers increasing on the internet, Instagram decided to make the online world a safer place by adding new features for those 16 and under. Instagram wants to maintain a good balance of fun and safety. So that is why they announced these changes that they will make. Keep reading to see what the new features are!
1) Defaulting young people into private accounts
New Instagram users that are 16 & under ( or under 18 in some countries) will have their accounts made private by default. Instagram announced this feature in hopes of protecting young children from strangers online.
The point of a private account is that you can choose who can see your content, stories and even comment/message you on Instagram. Your posts will not be shown on the explore page or on any of the hashtags list. Instagram also have found that young people generally choose to have a private account and prefer keeping their stuff away from the eyes of online predators.
As for the young users that already have an account made, they will just receive a notification highlighting the benefits of a private account and explaining how to change their privacy settings.
However, don’t worry, Instagram is still giving users the choice to either keep their account private or public. But they strongly emphasize that young kids should still keep their accounts private.
2) Making it harder for potentially suspicious accounts to find young people
Making accounts private is one way of keeping young kids safe, however, Instagram is going even further to make young kids accounts difficult to find. They have developed a new technology that enables them to find accounts with suspicious behaviour and be able to stop them from interacting with young kids. And by “suspicious behaviour” they mean accounts belonging to adults that have been blocked by young users.
With this new technology, Instagram will no longer be recommending these young accounts to adults or have them shown on their feed via reels or explore.
However, if they do search for the usernames belonging to young kids, they won’t be able to follow them. Nor will they be able to see their comments on other peoples posts or be able to comment on their posts.
Wow, Instagram is really trying every way to help keep kids online safe as much as possible. It is such a great chance to see.
3) Limiting the options advertisers have to reach young people with ads
Instagram will also be making changes on how advertisers will reach young people. They will start to only allow advertisers to target ads to people under 18 based on their location, age and gender. This means that the previously available advertising options based on the interests or activity of users on the app/website will no longer be available. These changes will be applied globally and to Facebook and Messenger as well.
When young people reach the age of 18, Instagram will alert them to new targeting choices that marketers can use to reach them, as well as tools that they can use to manage their ad experience.
These changes are currently being implemented in the US, Australia, France, the UK, and Japan soon. They are looking to expand to more countries hopefully.
That’s all for now!
Instagram has done all these changes from listening to the voices of young users online and they hope to do even more for them! “We want young people to enjoy using Instagram while making sure we never compromise on their privacy and safety. We’ll continue listening to them, their parents, lawmakers and experts to build an Instagram that works for young people and is trusted by parents.” -Instagram
We think this is an amazing announcement as it helps face and solves the many frightening online cyberbullying and stalking that goes on these days. So we hope everyone stays safe and implements these rules on themselves as soon as possible!
Also, bet the parents feel even better now! Kids, this is your chance to convince them to let you have an Insta account in a safe way!
Reminder: always tell an adult if there’s some suspicious activity & stay safe!
READ MORE:
Conspiracy Theory Movies You Need to Check out
READ MORE:
You Can Now Be The ‘Jeff Bezos’ At Your Future Wedding
READ MORE:
Logan Paul Just Touched Down in Dubai & It’s Not For A Holiday
