Instagram adds new measures to protect minors when they use your platform. A series of options that are already active in some countries and that will soon reach the rest where the service can be used. With them, both parents and legal guardians and minors themselves will be able to feel more at ease when accessing the social network and interacting with other users.
How to protect minors on Instagram
The protection of minors in social networks has become a matter of great importance for everyone, but especially for parents and guardians. For this reason, the platform has been incorporating new measures and options that allow greater control. In some cases, these are carried out without the user having to intervene and always with the aim of making the use of the social network more secure.
Because if you take into account that these types of social platforms are not only accessed by young people but also by older users, they are appreciated. Because another of the problems is that anyone can create a profile with invented data and there we run certain dangers again.
By not having to say who they really are, who is hiding behind the X profile, many take the opportunity to carry out a series of actions that they would not do in another way in which they could be recognized. For example, sending bullying messages or other types that are also very unpleasant.
More control over who you chat with
One of the important changes that it has introduced has been the one that affects message requests. On Instagram, as well as on the Facebook Messenger application with which they share the chat system, now you can enjoy a greater context about who is writing to you and other options are added, such as individual and batch deletion of messages, or the appearance of blurred images and videos until the request is accepted.
These options alone already give users, parents and guardians greater peace of mind and control over what types of communications are received and what happens to them. Because now you will see that messages from strangers do not go directly to your main inbox but remain in a new section called Message request.
These privacy settings in turn can be adapted to some extent to further reduce this type of conversation, and may even stop receiving them. Or allow only those who have personal data such as your phone number or are friends with you on Facebook or follow you to chat with you.
All are measures that already achieve quite accurate control to protect children when using the platform, but there is more news.
Private accounts by default
Accounts for minors will be private. That, at least, is what Instagram is going to promote with all those new users who come to the platform. When they go to create their profile, without indicating that they are under 18 years they will be given the default option to create a private account and explain its benefits.
Likewise, in the event that they do not do so at the first start, over time they will remind these minors of the advantages of using private accounts and how to configure them. A very simple process that can be done just by accessing Settings > Privacy and security > Private account.
Thus, when an account with a padlock is established, only people who have been accepted as followers will be able to see the publications. The rest of the users will be completely excluded from what is published in the main feed, the stories and even the reels.
Adults may not send messages to minors
Another of the important measures that have recently been added has to do with the use of messages again, but this time focused on limiting the chats that some adults can start using with minors.
Initially, any message that an adult user profile sends to a better will be blocked. Those of legal age will not be able to chat with minors under 18 years of age. unless they are adult accounts that these follow. If that doesn't happen, not a single message will arrive as long as you don't change anything or continue.
In addition, Instagram adds a series of algorithms that analyze the messages that an adult profile sends to minors. If they deem it appropriate that they are or could be committing some type of inappropriate use, then they would allege the minor with warnings so that they could make the decision to block, report, restrict or end the conversation with said adult.
The minor as the center and future of social networks
We have already seen that protecting the little ones is essential today. And this is due or justified for a couple of basic reasons:
- The first is that if the alluded (parents or guardians) do not trust or are sure of the use that their children or minors in charge of social networks could make, a significant bulk of users drop them.
- The second is that if they have bad experiences as children, when they are older they will not want to continue using the service.
In addition, to all these measures are added the existing ones that do not have to do with the interaction with other users but with the time of use that they invest. Thus, hours of maximum use can be established, hours in which it will not be possible to access, etc. Manage all this from parental controls both platforms such as Android or iOS and the options integrated into the application.
Therefore, as can be seen, taking care of this experience now and in the future will be essential for these networks to be used in a healthy way and always for positive purposes. No toxic behaviors that, as we have sadly been able to verify, sometimes lead to extreme situations that could have been avoided. Although there will always be an important factor that is none other than technological education about how to use both the platforms and the devices themselves.