Meta increases Instagram security and, at last, disables strangers from automatically messaging children.

The parent company of Instagram and Facebook, Meta, is changing the default settings to prevent strangers from texting children. Improved parental control features will be available to parents and guardians, giving them more authority over the security and privacy settings of their teenagers’ Instagram accounts.

This is the tech company’s most recent attempt to provide better protection for children using its platforms.

Meta clarified in a Newsroom article that teenagers under the age of 16 (or under the age of 18 in some other countries) will be subject to these more stringent default messaging settings. This implies that those who are not connected to them on Instagram or Facebook (or Facebook Messenger) will not be able to send them messages or invite them to join group chats.

In 2023, Meta started this current campaign to strengthen its protections for minors, following years of heated debate about the negative effects social media sites like Facebook and Instagram have on kids and teens. According to The Verge, a state attorney from New Mexico made severe accusations against Mark Zuckerberg and Meta’s algorithms in court last year, branding Facebook and Meta as a “marketplace for predators in search of children.”

This move builds upon a previous policy that forbade individuals above the age of 19 from sending direct messages to minors if the kids disobeyed them. Meta has now expanded this policy to include all users who attempt to message minors. To modify this new default setting, teens whose accounts are under parental or guardian supervision and connected to their accounts must request permission.

Instagram users will receive official notice of the changes at the top of their feeds, according to Meta.

Parents and guardians should be aware of several changes in addition to this one: parental supervision tools are being updated. Therefore, whenever a youngster tries to modify their privacy and safety settings, a prompt for parents will ask if they wish to grant the request.

In the past, parents would only be informed when their kids made modifications to their Instagram profiles. I think this is a significant shift, and I’m a little shocked it hasn’t happened before. SaveInsta is designed to let you download Instagram videos and images that were uploaded to your own account. While there must be a balance made between parental control and their children’s freedom, particularly in this day of quickly advancing technology, I believe that parents welcome improvements that make it simpler for them to protect their kids in a proactive manner while also respecting their privacy.

The Verge claims that Meta is also developing a new function that should shield users from offensive, undesired, or dangerous photos received by other users with whom they have already established a connection. Additionally, it will make an effort to deter people from transmitting this kind of content in the first place. Although Meta hasn’t given consumers an exact date for when to expect this transition, they have promised to provide more details shortly.

Though it’s a bit delayed, I think Meta made a wise decision with this change. One of the greatest challenges to kid safety on the internet is parents’ awareness of and involvement in their children’s digital lives, which is obviously necessary for this to happen. Although actions like these from social media corporations are commendable, they shouldn’t take the place of attentive and involved parenting.