Meta Broadens Scope of Teen Accounts to Include Facebook and Messenger Services
Covering Your Kid's Cyberspace: Meta's Teen Account Enhancements
Embrace the web, but watch your back, especially for the young ones. Social media giants like Meta, with platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, have graced our screens for approximately two decades. However, keeping these digital wonders safe for the underage set remains a tangled challenge.
Meta is stepping up to the plate with teen-friendly solutions, such as last year's launch of Teen Accounts for Instagram. As a result, all Instagram users under 18 experienced a shift to this protective platform, boasting a suite of safeguards absent on standard accounts. For instance, Teen Accounts deem privacy paramount, as new followers must be manually approved. Non-followers are in the dark, unable to view posts, send DMs, or tag or mention them in posts.
Content filters further bolster the Teen Account's defense, purging violent material and posts promoting cosmetic surgeries. Respite arrives after an hour of screen time, with a built-in sleep mode activating between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. to mute alerts and auto-respond to any incoming DMs.
16- and 17-year-olds maintain some control, able to tweak the settings if desired. Conversely, those under 16 need parental authorization to make any adjustments. Meta seems satisfied with the outcomes, triggering the decision to extend these safeguards to Facebook and Messenger, as well as bolstering the protections built into these accounts.
Teen Accounts: Facebook and Messenger Arrival
Meta revealed the Teen Account changes in a Tuesday blog post. Joining Instagram, Teen Accounts are rolling out to Facebook and Messenger users in the United States, UK, Australia, and Canada, with more regions on the global stage soon.
After transitioning to Teen Accounts, users younger than 18 will find an alert atop their apps, outlining the modifications Meta intends to implement.
What's New with Teen Accounts
Teen Accounts on Facebook and Messenger inherit the same protections that have safeguarded Instagram Teen Accounts since last year. Nevertheless, Meta is implementing fresh restrictions exclusively for Teen Accounts on Instagram. That includes a ban on livestreaming for users under 16, requiring parental consent to enable live streaming. Furthermore, those under 16 require parents' consent to turn off the feature that censors images containing presumed nudity in DMs.
Having said that, it is a safe bet that most parents would choose to maintain these default protections on their teens' Instagram accounts, with Meta estimating that 97% of users aged 13-15 keep these settings intact.
Managing Your Teen's Meta Accounts
Teen Accounts get automated, effortlessly becoming the default setting for users with Instagram, Facebook, or Messenger accounts. If your teen is 16 or older, they can modify these settings independently. However, teens under 16 necessitate parental supervision to alter these settings in the first place, or they will remain locked into Teen Account restrictions until they turn 16.
To establish parental supervision in Instagram, open the app, head to your profile, hit the hamburger menu, and select Family Center. Select Invite your teen, and choose your child from the list of users. Tap Invite to send the invitation. Invite links are similarly available in Messenger and Facebook: Open the app, navigate to Menu > Settings (Settings & privacy on Facebook) > Family Center, then share the invite link generated by the app.
With parental supervision in place, you should be able to manage your teen's permissions from the Family Center chat. Access options like who can DM them, who can mention or tag them, content limitations, sleep mode settings, and time limit options. Be advised, though, that this isn't a surveillance state: Meta asserts you cannot view your teen's search history or DMs, post on their behalf, or reset their password. They maintain significant personal privacy, with your role merely overseeing the aforementioned permissions. When your teen attempts to change a restricted setting, the app will inform them they need your permission to do so.
Meta's Persistent Drive for Progress
Meta is taking strides to engage parents by updating the Meta Family Center and partnering with external organizations to educate them about these protections. The company is also resolved to continue evolving and refining Teen Accounts based on feedback from parents to ensure these platforms remain safe havens for the next generation.
- The enhancements made to Meta's Teen Accounts have not only affected Instagram but have also been extended to Facebook and Messenger, aiming to provide a safer environment for minors on these platforms.
- With the arrival of Teen Accounts on Facebook and Messenger, users under 18 will find new filters that will enable the removal of violent content and posts promoting cosmetic surgeries, similar to the protection already in place on Instagram Teen Accounts.
- In addition to the existing filters, Meta has introduced fresh restrictions for Teen Accounts on Instagram, such as a ban on livestreaming for users under 16, requiring parental consent to enable live streaming.
