Mosseri gave out the information in a blog post (via), adding that these new additions have been in development for a while. The Meta-owned company also unveiled a handful of other safety features focused on teens. These changes come ahead of Mosseri’s testimony to a U.S. Senate Committee this week. Instagram is also working on a dedicated educational hub for parents/guardians with tutorials and tips on social media use by children. Additionally, the company said it would soon begin the broader rollout of the “Take a Break” feature that was previewed in October. When enabled, this feature sends reminders/notifications to users in 10, 20, or 30-minute intervals to close the app. Instagram said it would notify users of this feature to encourage widespread adoption. The platform said that up to 90% of the users kept the reminders on after enabling them. The feature will first make its way to the U.S., Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand while global availability will commence next year.
The platform is changing how recommendations work for teenagers
Instagram is also changing how tagging permissions work for teenagers on the platform. Starting early next year, users will be unable to mention or tag teenage users on the app. Furthermore, the service is also gaining a bulk delete feature next month. This would allow users to delete photos, likes, comments from the platform in bulk. This feature would allow users to “manage their digital footprint,” the Instagram chief said. Going forward, Instagram would be stricter with recommendations to teens through Search, Explore, Hashtags, and Suggested Accounts. The platform will also “nudge” users to different topics “if they’ve been dwelling on one topic for a while.” The blog post also includes quotes from psychologists and mental health experts citing the benefits of the “Take a Break” and the “nudge” features. These additions come as Meta faces sharp criticism for its inaction despite knowing its platforms could be harmful to teens. Although Instagram has also spoken about a kids’ version of the platform, those plans have been dropped at this point.
