Meta announces new measure to ensure youth safety online as B.C. provides online portal update

Some new rules have come into effect Tuesday for children who have an account on a social media platform owned by Meta in order to ensure young people stay safe online.

This comes after the B.C. government launched an online portal in January to take down images shared on online platforms without consent.

In a release, the technology company announced that Instagram is introducing “Instagram Teen Accounts” that have built-in protections limiting who can contact them, what content they can see, and new ways of exploring their interests.

“Instagram knows parents want to feel confident that their teens can use social media to connect with their friends and explore their interests – without having to worry about unsafe or inappropriate experiences. They hear parents’ concerns, and that’s why Instagram is reimagining their app for teens with new Teen Accounts,” the company said.

Instagram will automatically place teens into teen accounts and parents will be required to consent to any changes in settings that users under the age of 16 want to make.

Some of the new features in the built-in protection on these teen accounts include automatically being placed into a private account, restrictions on messaging and content, a new sleep mode feature muting notifications at night, and additional parental supervision tools that allow parents to see who their kids are messaging.

“With parental supervision on, parents can also decide when and for how long their teens can use Instagram,” said Meta.

As parents and kids walked home after school from Florence Nightingale Elementary in Mt. Pleasant Tuesday afternoon, some parents told CityNews that it’s up to them to be involved in their children’s online safety.

“I think it’s safer for them, but in a way, they can always make another account,” said one parent. “I think it’s up to the parents to be vigilant and check all their devices when it comes to that one.”

“I don’t like the way it operates, just the way I’ve been working with the parental controls, and also that it doesn’t feel like there are many alternatives. I think the best approach is just being involved. So, I use all of the parental controls and try and have some level of supervision – there’s no closed doors if he’s on his tablet, those types of things,” said another parent.

According to Meta’s release, the Director of Research at MediaSmarts Dr. Kara says that their research has shown that along with parents, teens themselves want a social media experience catered for their age. Plus, the expert says research shows the value and positive impacts of engaged adult supervision when teens are online.

“Involving trusted adults in a scaffolded social media experience can help facilitate crucial communication between teens and their parents/guardians about their social media use,” she said.

B.C.’s Attorney General Niki Sharma said the province is working on “all fronts to increase protections online”, especially for children.

“Meta joined us at the table and we were able to make progress through these discussions. We look forward to continuing to do all we can to stop online harassment, bullying and exploitation,” she said.

At a news conference Tuesday, B.C. Premier David Eby recounted the death of a boy from Prince George that involved the use of Snapchat.

“Following the horrific death of Carson Cleland in Prince George … [he] had one interaction on Snapchat with a predator that didn’t live anywhere near him, lived thousands and thousands of miles away in another country, tricked him into sending pictures of himself, and caused him to believe he would be subject to so much personal embarrassment that it caused Carson to take his own life,” said Eby.

Since the province launched its online portal for reporting and taking down photos, the portal has received 152 reports – 14 of them from minors – and many of the complaints reached resolutions within a month on average.

“That’s in the few short months it’s been running,” said Sharma. “And we know there’s a lot of people out there that are experiencing this type of harm, so we want to get the word out to them that this is a process that is there for them to seek help, and to take back their images.”

-With files from Srushti Gangdev