Instagram is strengthening its rules.
The Meta group, owner of the social network, announced the upcoming launch of a new feature intended to protect minors using the platform: a setting activated by default on their account will prevent adolescents from receiving DMs (private messages) from a user that they do not follow, explained the platform in a press release.
Minors will also not be able to be added to group chats by people they do not follow.
The platform, which also owns Facebook, indicates that this new functionality will also be brought to Messenger (Facebook's messaging service).
Affected young people who already have an Instagram account will soon see a notification appear at the top of their feed telling them that the platform is adding these changes to their settings.
Parental consent required to change this setting
In 2022, Meta launched the possibility for parents using Instagram to be able to supervise their child's account.
The latter can, since then, set time limits and are notified when their teenager changes their settings.
Teens using “account supervision” must also obtain parental consent to share their account publicly.
Also read: Instagram, Facebook... How Meta wants to train parents to better secure their teenagers' accounts
Minors using supervision who wish to be able to receive DMs from strangers must also obtain the consent of their parents.
The latter will then receive a notification inviting them to approve or refuse the request, explains Mark Zuckerberg's company.
Meta also says it is working on a new feature aimed at preventing teens “from seeing unwanted and potentially inappropriate images in their messages” from people they already follow, “and to discourage them from sending these types of messages themselves.” images”.