Meta has come under persistent criticism from regulatory agencies and governments for failing to protect teenagers on its social media channels Facebook and Instagram. Now, the company that is owned by Mark Zuckerberg has created updates to solve this issue. Meta is now introducing more filters to the function known as “People You May Know,” restricting the visibility of friends’ lists and introducing new tools to combat the distribution of private images without permission.
A “suspicious” account is one that has been recently reported by a young person. As tests are currently being conducted, the button that allows suspicious adults to message teenagers on Instagram is going to be removed as an option for these adults in the near future.
As soon as a teen starts messaging an adult, the adult will receive a prompt asking them if they are familiar with the person in question in the real world. After that, a Safety Notice will appear, which will provide a rundown of the various actions that can be taken to avoid any further interaction with this individual.
When teenagers sign up for Facebook for the first time in the future, regardless of how infrequently this occurs these days, the most restrictive privacy settings will be pre-selected for them. These settings will govern who can view their friend list, the people and pages they follow, the posts in which they are tagged, and who is permitted to comment on their posts. Instagram is also implementing new settings that are very similar to these.
Meta has announced that it will now be working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to develop a platform that will cater to the needs of adolescents who are concerned that their private photographs may be posted online without their permission. Facebook is collaborating with two other networks to empower young people to seek help, destigmatize images of self-harm, and take control of their lives. The features are currently being rolled out, but it will take a while before they are accessible to all teenagers in their entirety.
