Meta announces new teen safety features for Messenger, Instagram
Facebook parent Meta (META) announced a raft of new safety features on Tuesday aimed at protecting teens who use the social media company's apps and helping them better manage their time on the platforms.
The biggest announcement comes in the form of Meta's new parental supervision tools for Messenger. Now parents and guardians will be able to see how much time teens spend on Messenger, view updates to their contacts list and privacy settings, learn who can message their teen, and check in on who can see their Messenger stories.
In addition to Messenger, Meta says it's also working on features that will limit who can send you direct messages on Instagram. According to the company, users will need to send an invite to someone else to get their permission to connect on the social media platform before they can send direct messages.
Users will only be able to send one invite at a time, and can't send another until the person accepts the invitation. The invites will also be limited to text, meaning users can't send requests with images, videos, or voice messages and calls.
In addition to the new Messenger tools, Meta has also announced new supervision features for Instagram. The company says teens will now get a notice to add their parents to supervise their accounts when they block someone. Though it's hard to imagine many teens are likely to choose such an option.
Parents will also be able to see how many friends their teens have in common with accounts they follow and that follow them to better understand the relationship their kids have with those users.
The announcements come less than a month after a Wall Street Journal investigation found that Instagram's recommendation systems connect individuals seeking and selling "child-sex material." Meta, The Journal reported, responded by disabling thousands of offending hashtags and said it took down 27 such networks over the last two years.
Users must be at least 13 years old to use Meta's family of apps, though children can find ways around the company's age restrictions.
Beyond safety features, Meta announced that teens will now receive a notification after spending 20 minutes on Facebook as a means of getting them to move on from the app. The company said it's also looking at adding a notification that will tell teens to close Instagram when they're scrolling Reels at night.
The social media industry is under increasing scrutiny from legislators and regulators when it comes to teen social media use. In May, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory about the effects of social media use on young users.
That same month, the Biden administration announced the creation of a new task force dedicated to looking at the impact of social media on children.
In 2021, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed internal Meta documents showing it knew Instagram had a negative impact on teen girls.
Daniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.
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