Instagram Rolling Out Features for The Safety of Younger Users

This new feature will require adults to receive a follow from someone who is less than 18

Instagram is now rolling off a new measure that will restrict adults from contacting people under the age of 18 on the application. This is to ensure the safety of the younger users of the app. And indeed, it could be quite an effective one.

 

New feature of Instagram

Basically, this new feature will require adults to receive a follow from someone who is less than 18, if they want to message them. Otherwise, the adult user will see a message stating, “You can’t message this account unless they follow you”.

Along with that, Instagram has also decided to send out prompts to teenage users on the application, that reminds them to remain cautious of the creeps out there. Furthermore, the Instagram algorithm can now notice the adults that seem too sus in the DMs of younger users.

 

When the algorithm finds such a user, it sends a prompt to the young person with the message, “Do you know this person?”

For instance, any suspicious activity such as sending too many follow requests to underage users could make a user ‘sus’. With the help of such prompts, young users an immediately report, block, or end the conversation with the sus adult.

 

However, currently, this feature is not available in all countries. It will first roll-out in a few countries this month, followed by others. Along with that, Instagram is also developing features that may flag people that are too creepy.

Such feature could hide the comments of flagged adults on teenagers’ posts and restrict from the suggested users list. Well, Instagram is already restricted for younger people. However, now the application is reportedly developing machine-learning and artificial intelligence algorithms that can help apply features for younger users.

 

Instagram also seems to be encouraging the younger users to keep their profiles set to private rather than public. This would further provide them some security from the creepy dudes that may be spying the younger users.

On the other hand, dating applications like Tinder also take strong measures. For instance, they match people under-18 with other under-18 users only. This helps ensure the safety of younger people that are using the applications.

 

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