Main image via The Verge + TheNextWeb
As the world of social media continues to grow and involve more groups of people, one aspect has always been on the forefront of everyone’s mind. Safety.
With more and more teens under the age of 18 joining social media platforms, they are exposed to more dangers with predators always on the lookout for new victims.
Instagram however is taking a step in the right direction to help put an end to this problem and ensure the safety of teens everywhere.
via GIPHY
The social media platform has announced plans to introduce a new safety feature that is designed to keep teens safe while using the app.
Following an increase in cyber crimes, Instagram has shared that it will soon be banning adults from being able to DM teens under 18 who don’t follow them back.
If the adult still insists on private messaging a teen who doesn’t follow them back, they will receive a notification telling them that sending a message to the minor’s account is not an option.
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Besides blocking communication between an adult and teen, the app will also send messages to teens to encourage them to be careful and vigilant when communicating with adults who are basically strangers to them, even if they’ve previously communicated before.
“Safety notices in DMs will notify young people when an adult who has been exhibiting potentially suspicious behaviour is interacting with them in DMs,” Instagram explained.
“For example, if an adult is sending a large amount of friend or message requests to people under 18, we’ll use this tool to alert the receipients within their DMs and give them an option to end the conversation, or block, report, or restrict the adult.”
Image via The Verge
The social media platform says that it is also developing new “artificial intelligence and machine learning technology” that will try and detect someone’s age when they sign up for an account.
Officially, the age limit on Instagram is 13 and above but as we all know, it’s easy to lie about your age online. The company is aiming to do “more to stop this from happening” but have not gone into details about how the new technology will help with the problem.
Under 18s who sign up to the platform will also be encouraged to make their profile private but if they choose a public account anyway, Instagram will send them a notification that highlights the “benefits of a private account and reminding them to check their settings.”
Image via TechCrunch
The platform is also looking into ways to make it more difficult for suspicious adults to interact with teens on the app.
One of these methods could include stopping adults from being able to see teens popping up in “suggested users” or from seeing their content on the “explore” page.
Image via Later
We can see that Instagram is definitely committed to creating a safe space for everyone to use their app, especially for those under 18.
We definitely commend their efforts and look forward to seeing what more safety features they’ll add to the platform.
Do you agree with Instagram’s methods to keep teens safe? What else would you add if you could? Let us know!
Info via The Verge + UNILAD
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