Meta said it is “automatically placing teens into the most restrictive content control setting on Instagram and Facebook.”
The changes will apply automatically, provided teens do not lie about their age when signing up.
Sensitive Content Control makes it more difficult for people to come across potentially sensitive content or accounts in places like Search and Explore.
Meta also is applying a change for everyone — teens and adults — on the subjects of self-harm and eating discovers.
Some critics, though, said the changes are coming too late.
Josh Golin, executive director of the children’s online advocacy group Fairplay, told ABC News, “Today’s announcement by Meta is yet another desperate attempt to avoid regulation and an incredible slap in the face to parents who have lost their kids to online harms on Instagram. If the company is capable of hiding pro-suicide and eating disorder content, why have they waited until 2024 to announce these changes?”
In October, a bipartisan coalition of 33 attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit against Meta, alleging that the company “knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram, Facebook, and its other social media platforms that purposefully addict children and teens.”