Big changes are rolling out on Instagram starting on Tuesday that will protect young users from being exposed to content that some believe they should not be seeing.
The company’s CEO and President, Adam Mosseri, announced on the “Today” show that there will be changes happening to Instagram’s Teen Accounts.
“What we’re announcing today is that we’ve revamped all of our guidelines about what teens can and cannot see on Instagram in a way that is guided by the PG-13 rating that was pioneered by the movie industry,” he said on Tuesday morning.
Teen Accounts were rolled out last year, ABC News reported.
Many of the same privacy rules are still in place, including private accounts, blocked search terms, restricted access to content and messaging and parental controls defaulted to on. But content will be based on the movie rating system that sets the PG-13 benchmark.
Teens will only be able to see content that is rated 13-plus, blocking inappropriate posts unless they have a parent’s permission.
“Parents don’t have to do anything,” Mosseri explained. “So the way it works is by default, every teen that has a teen account will be in the 13-plus rating, which means that the content they see on Instagram will largely align with a PG-13 movie.
“Now, like in a PG-13 movie, where you might actually occasionally hear a swear word, you will occasionally come across content that might be risky because we either missed it or because it was said by a friend. But, generally, there is a lot more restriction on what you can’t see.”
Teens will not be able to:
- Follow accounts that typically share adult content,
- Interact with or find “mature” accounts easily,
- See content with risky behavior or bad language,
- See anything with specific search terms such as “gore” or “blood” even if misspelled.
Changes also apply to the conversations teens have with the platform’s AI chatbot, The New York Times reported.
Parents will also be able to set their teens’ accounts to ones that are stricter than PG-13 called “Limited Content,” which will disable comments on teen content.
He also wanted to make sure that parents were aware of the new settings and that they are turned on by default. If a parent thinks their teen should see more adult content, the parent needs to take the step to release the access.
“But if a parent has the time, and we’re trying to raise awareness around these tools, they can set up parental supervision, and they can shape the experience into what’s best for their specific teen," Mosseri told the “Today” show.
As for users who are not truthful about their age in trying to get around the barriers, Instagram is using AI tools to try to beat them at their own game.
“It’s gotten better, but it’s not perfect,” Mosseri said. “We use AI both to try and assess what content is aligned with those 13-plus policy policies and what content is mature.
“But we also use AI to try to detect who might be lying about their age by looking at who they’re friends with, what they consume. Maybe they’re wishing each other happy birthday or sweet 16. It is an imperfect science that we are, I think either the best, or one of the best, in the industry at. But it’s not foolproof.”
He also admitted slang terms used to get around the rules are on the company’s radar, but as soon as they put up a block, users find a way to get around it. The example given was using the words “tomato sauce” in place of blood.
“People who want to circumvent our content policies, our rules, are going to try to come up with code words that try to get around our detection, which is why, for us, the work never ends,” Mosseri said.
“We have to when we identify content, do what we call ‘fan outs’ to look at other content that is connected to it. What is the other content from that same account? What accounts do they follow? What have they posted? To try to identify these new code words or hints or ways of trying to circumvent our systems so that we can update our systems and then be more and more safe over time?”
The accounts will start being updated on Oct. 14 and will be completed by the end of the year in the U.S, U.K., Australia and Canada, ABC News reported. It will go global next year.
Similar guardrails are planned for Facebook. Both Instagram and Facebook are owned by Meta.
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