Facebook-owned photo and video sharing platform Instagram has announced some new features to protect teens on the platform.
Now Instagram will use artificial intelligence to determine age to find underage users. Instagram has minimum age criteria of 13 for any user using the app. Most people enter their correct date of birth but many people enter the wrong age. Kids can make an account even if they aren’t 13. Adults can fake their age to make a profile of a teen.
The company will also prevent adults from sending messages to users under 18 who don’t follow them. This measure has been taken to prevent unwanted contact of teens with unknown adults. The prompt will warn teenagers to “be careful sharing photos, videos, or information with someone you don’t know”. It will also give an option to report or block the profile of the adult.
The app will notify the teens if they try to contact an adult who has been found exhibiting “potentially suspicious behaviour.”
Instagram will also encourage teens to make their account private. If a teen uses public profile, Instagram will also send them notification highlighting the benefits of a private account.
