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A r u b a ’ s O N L Y E n g l i s h n e w s p a p e r
Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper
Instagram makes teen accounts private as pressure mounts on the

app to protect children

By BARBARA ORTUTAY
AP Technology Writer
Instagram is making teen
accounts private by de-
fault as it tries to make the
platform safer for children
amid a growing backlash
against how social media
affects young people's
lives.
Beginning Tuesday in the
U.S., U.K., Canada and
Australia, anyone under
18 who signs up for Insta-
gram will be placed into
restrictive teen accounts
and those with existing
accounts will be migrat-
ed over the next 60 days.
Teens in the European Un-
ion will see their accounts
adjusted later this year.
Parent company Meta
acknowledges that teen-
agers may lie about their
age and says it will require
them to verify their ages in
more instances, like if they
try to create a new ac-
count with an adult birth-
day. The Menlo Park, Cali- The Instagram logo is seen on a cell phone in Boston, Oct. 14, 2022.
fornia company also said it Associated Press
is building technology that
proactively finds teen ac- promoting cosmetic pro- able to turn them off. Kids Meta. "So teen accounts is forms. While Meta didn't
counts that pretend to be cedures, will be limited, under 16 will need their par- really focused on address- give specifics on how the
grownups and automati- Meta said. Teens will also ents' permission to do so. ing those three concerns." changes might affect its
cally places them into the get notifications if they are "The three concerns we're The announcement comes business, the company said
restricted teen accounts. on Instagram for more than hearing from parents are as the company faces law- the changes may mean
The teen accounts will be 60 minutes and a "sleep that their teens are see- suits from dozens of U.S. that teens will use Insta-
private by default. Private mode" will be enabled that ing content that they don't states that accuse it of gram less in the short term.
messages are restricted turns off notifications and want to see or that they're harming young people and Emarketer analyst Jasmine
so teens can only receive sends auto-replies to direct getting contacted by contributing to the youth Enberg said the revenue
them from people they messages from 10 p.m. until people they don't want to mental health crisis by impact of the changes "will
follow or are already con- 7 a.m. be contacted by or that knowingly and deliberately likely be minimal."
nected to. "Sensitive con- While these settings will be they're spending too much designing features on Insta-
tent," such as videos of turned on for all teens, 16 time on the app," said Nao- gram and Facebook that Continued on Page 2
people fighting or those and 17-year-olds will be mi Gleit, head of product at addict children to its plat-