Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta announced that it will restrict content related to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders for teen users.
The big picture: While Meta already had content restrictions in place for teen users – placing new users into the most restrictive content control setting on Instagram and Facebook – current users will also be placed in that category.
- Certain topics will be hidden from teens in their feeds and stories.
- Teens that search for terms that are related to the restricted topics will be directed by Meta to expert resources for help.
- Meta’s latest update will also notify teens to update their privacy settings.
What they’re saying: “We want teens to have safe, age-appropriate experiences on our apps,” Meta said in a blog post. “We’ve developed over 30 tools and resources to support teens and their parents, and we’ve spent over a decade developing policies and technology to address content that breaks our rules or could be seen as sensitive.”