The Meta-owned photo sharing app Instagram has announced an update to its Sensitive Content Control for teens. The update will automatically put new teen aged below 16 years under the “Less” option for the content that they will be exposed to in the app.
Teens presently have options on Instagram to limit the sensitivity of the content they access. The social media platform in June launched a feature that further restricts such content. The latest update will automatically enable the “Less” option for new teens under 16 years old who join the app. Currently, Instagram enables the “Standard” option for new teen users which shows some sensitive content. With the latest update, it will further restrict the content that young users come across.
“The Sensitive Content Control has only two options for teens: “Standard” and “Less.” New teens on Instagram under 16 years old will be defaulted into the “Less” state. For teens already on Instagram, we will send a prompt encouraging them to select the “Less” experience. This will make it more difficult for young people to come across potentially sensitive content or accounts in Search, Explore, Hashtag Pages, Reels, Feed Recommendations and Suggested Accounts,” the company wrote in a blog post. The new setting will affect the Search, Explore, Hashtag Pages, Reels, Feed Recommendations, and Suggested Accounts. The Instagram launched the “Sensitive Content Control,” last year allowing users to control sensitive content that shows up in Explore.
Currently “Standard” is the default state, and it prevents people from seeing some sensitive content and accounts. The “More” lets user see more sensitive content and accounts, and lastly “Less” lets you see less of this content than the default state. For people under the age of 18, the “More” option is unavailable.
Instagram is also working on ways to encourage teens to update their safety and privacy settings. It says it will show prompts asking teens to review their privacy settings like restricting who can reshare their content, who can message and contact them, what content they can see and how they can manage their time spent on Instagram.
