Less than two months before the social media ban kicks in for Australians aged 16 and under, Instagram has rolled out new teen accounts which will be guided by a similar ratings system used for movies to serve up age appropriate content.
The new teen accounts will have a PG-13 rating which means users will see similar content as would be seen in a PG-13 movie.
Now if only Instagram thought of this years ago and was more concerned with offering age appropriate content instead of sharpening their algorithm to harvest more data then the Australian Government might not have created a social media ban for Australians aged under 16.
Instagram introduced teen accounts last year and will use age prediction technology to ensure teenagers don’t try to pass themselves off as adults.
Instagram says it will work hard to only offers teens age appropriate content and wants parents to rest assured the platform is working hard to keep their kids safe.
But for Australian teens, this new rating-based policy comes too late.
On December 10 every user aged under 16 will be kicked off the platform and Instagram and other platforms have to show they are using reasonable measures to keep these younger teens off the platform.
Of course, this is only the policy in Australia currently with other countries possibly following our lead and enforcing the under 16 bans in their own territories.
Instagram teen accounts and these new restrictions will apply to Australian users aged 16 and older not affected by the social media ban.
These new Instagram restrictions will also include teens not being able to follow or interact with accounts that are sharing age-inappropriate content.
These accounts will also have restricted search so users will be blocked from certain sensitive topics like suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.
Age inappropriate content will be blocked even when shared with someone they follow or if someone sends a link.
There are now also stricter settings for parents who want extra controls with a new Limited Content option.
This will filter even more content from teen accounts and remove the option of seeing, leaving or receiving comments under posts.
