Following its recent changes to the teens experience on its social apps, Meta announced a harsher change meant to help protect teens from unwanted contact.
Up until now, Meta restricted adults over the age of 19 from messaging teens who don’t follow them. Also, the company limits the type and number of DMs people will be able to send to someone who doesn’t follow them to one text-only message.
The new setting announced today makes it possible to turn off teens’ ability to receive DMs from anyone they don’t follow or aren’t connected to on Instagram, including other teens, by default.
When the new setting is toggled on, teens will only receive messages from people they already follow or are connected to. According to Meta, teens in “supervised accounts” will need to get their parents’ permission to change this setting.
The new default setting will apply to all teens under the age of 16 (or under 18 in certain countries). Those affected will receive a notification informing them about the new changes on Instagram at the top of their Feed.
Apart from Instagram, Meta revealed that it’s also making changes to teens’ default settings on Messenger, so those under 16 (or 18 in certain countries) will only receive messages from Facebook friends, or people they’re connected to through phone contacts.
Finally, Meta plans to launch another feature that will help protect teens from seeing unwanted and potentially inappropriate images in their message from people they’re already connected to.
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Cosmin, a tech journalist with a career spanning over a decade, brings a wealth of experience to PhoneArena. His expertise lies in brands like Samsung and Nokia, and he has a keen interest in innovative technologies. After a brief stint in PR, Cosmin returned to tech journalism in 2016, committed to delivering clear and objective news. When he's not writing or appearing as a guest on TV and radio shows, Cosmin enjoys playing RPGs, watching Netflix, and nurturing his passion for history and travel.
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