Industry Odisha Bureau, Aug 27: In a latest update, Meta is preparing major changes to Instagram and Facebook. This Meta update will give teenagers tighter controls over their social media use. The changes follow a settlement involving 47 US states, the District of Columbia and US territories over allegations that social media platforms can contribute to addictive behaviour among young users.
Under the new measures, Instagram and Facebook will impose a default two-hour daily usage limit for teenagers. Parents will be able to approve additional screen time through parental controls. Access will also be automatically blocked between midnight and 6 am.
Meta will introduce the changes over the next six months, although some age-verification measures could take up to a year.
Teenagers will receive prompts after extended usage, including after 15, 60 and 90 minutes. Notifications will also be silenced during school hours, from 8 am to 3 pm.
The company is giving young users greater control over their feeds. They will be able to turn off autoplay and opt out of personalised algorithmic feeds. Meta will also hide like counts and restrict access to certain extreme makeup filters designed to mimic cosmetic surgery.
Further, Meta also plans to introduce additional protections against unwanted interactions between adults and teenagers. The company has also promised to respond to 90% of harmful content reports within six hours.
Parents will continue to have access to tools showing their children’s usage, searches and interactions with adults. They may also receive alerts about new accounts or suspicious interactions. Meta is further expanding age-verification technology to identify teenage users and remove accounts belonging to children under 13.
