Last October, Instagram took a significant step towards enhancing the safety and appropriateness of content for its younger users in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada. By defaulting teen accounts to a new 13+ content setting, the platform aimed to create a more age-appropriate experience, drawing inspiration from movie ratings and parental feedback. The initiative has proven successful, with 90% of teens opting to remain in this setting since its launch. Additionally, a stricter option known as Limited Content was introduced for parents seeking an even more controlled environment for their teens.
Expanding Our New 13+ Content Settings To Instagram, Facebook and Messenger Teen Accounts Globally
In a move to further safeguard young users, Instagram is now expanding its 13+ content settings to teen accounts across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger on a global scale. The new default setting on Facebook aims to filter out inappropriate content from feeds and reels, while also restricting teens’ interactions with profiles, pages, groups, and events that predominantly share unsuitable material. On Messenger, the 13+ setting limits access to links and chats with accounts that primarily share inappropriate content. Furthermore, the Limited Content setting will be introduced on Facebook and Messenger later this year.
As these content settings roll out to more regions and platforms, the company continues to engage parents worldwide, inviting them to evaluate Facebook and Instagram content for its appropriateness for teens. Feedback has poured in from hundreds of thousands of parents, who have rated over 15 million pieces of content. A recent survey conducted at the end of April revealed that fewer than 2% of posts recommended to teens were deemed inappropriate by the majority of parents surveyed in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada.
A New Way to Help Prevent Teens From Repeatedly Seeing Certain Types of Content on Instagram
In its ongoing commitment to fostering positive experiences for teens, Instagram is exploring innovative methods to ensure that young users are not overwhelmed by certain types of content. Recognizing that topics such as nutrition, fitness, and mental health can be beneficial, the platform aims to strike a balance by limiting the frequency with which teens encounter similar posts. This initiative will be tested across Explore, Feed, and Reels.
An External Assessment To Stress-Test Our Teen Account Content Settings
To validate the effectiveness of its new content settings, Instagram enlisted the expertise of Alice (formerly ActiveFence), a team of online safety specialists tasked with conducting a thorough evaluation and adversarial stress-testing of the Teen Account settings. Alice’s analysis compared mature themes present on Instagram with those found on a leading competitor and in films rated for ages 13 and up, providing valuable insights into the content teens are exposed to.
- Instagram Teen Accounts under the default 13+ setting encountered 68% less mature content compared to the competitor’s teen experience.
- Those in the Limited Content setting experienced an even greater reduction, with 96% less mature content than their counterparts.
- When mature content was present, it was found to be less intense than that encountered on the competitor’s platform and in films rated 13+.
- Instagram demonstrated a higher frequency of blocking mature search terms compared to its competitor.
- Key functionalities, such as the default 13+ setting and restrictions on content selection without parental permission, were confirmed to be effective.
Alice’s assessment also highlighted two areas for improvement, which Instagram promptly addressed:
- While safeguards were already in place to prevent interactions with accounts sharing age-inappropriate content, a few exceptions were identified. Instagram quickly updated its detection signals to enhance these protections, which were retested and found effective prior to publication.
- In rare instances of encountering mature content, particularly concerning “risky stunts” or “viral challenges,” Instagram found that certain trends, like “car surfing,” were not yet covered by existing policies. The platform swiftly updated its guidelines to restrict this content for teen users.
Encouraged by these findings, Instagram remains committed to rigorously stress-testing its systems to ensure continuous improvement. Detailed information regarding Alice’s results and methodology can be found here.
It is important to note that while there are notable differences between social media platforms and movies, Instagram did not collaborate with the MPA during the development of its content settings. The MPA is not involved in rating content on Instagram or endorsing its content settings. Instead, Instagram drew inspiration from the MPA’s public guidelines, which are familiar to parents, along with direct feedback from them. The platform’s content moderation systems differ from those of a movie ratings board, and thus, the experiences may not align perfectly.
