Agency Report
Instagram announced new protections on Tuesday for young users, a day before the photo-sharing app’s CEO faces a grilling from US lawmakers on whether the platform is “toxic” for children.
The app will be stricter about what it recommends to teen users and will suggest a break if they have been spending a lot of time on the platform, chief executive Adam Mosseri said in a post.
Meta-owned Instagram has been central to the reputational crisis the social media colossus has battled since a whistleblower leaked documents showing executives knew of their sites’ risks for making teens feel badly about themselves.
Mosseri, who appears before a Senate panel on Wednesday, defended the platform in his post, saying: “Every day I see the positive impact that Instagram has for young people everywhere.”
“I want to make sure that it stays that way, which means above all keeping them safe on Instagram,” he added.
The app is also to start “nudging” teens toward new topics if there is one they have been dwelling on for a while and will stop people from mentioning teens who don’t follow them on the platform, Mosseri said.
Lawmakers voiced skepticism over the platform’s capacity to protect kids, as well as the timing of the announcement of the new safety features.
“Meta is attempting to shift attention from their mistakes by rolling out parental guides, use timers and content control features that consumers should have had all along,” said Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, who will question Mosseri at Wednesday’s hearing.
