Instagram will automatically restrict sensitive content for new teen users

San Francisco: Meta-owned photo and video sharing platform Instagram has announced that it will limit sensitive content for new teen users by default on the platform.

Instagram said that the Sensitive Content Control has only two options for teens — “Standard” and “Less”.

“New teens on Instagram under 16 years old will be defaulted into the ‘Less’ state. For teens already on Instagram, we will send a prompt encouraging them to select the ‘Less’ experience,” the platform said in a blogpost.

“This will make it more difficult for young people to come across potentially sensitive content or accounts in Search, Explore, Hashtag Pages, Reels, Feed Recommendations and Suggested Accounts,” it added.

In addition, Instagram said it is testing a new way to encourage teens to update their safety and privacy settings.

It will show prompts asking teens to review their settings including — controlling who can reshare their content, who can message and contact them, what content they can see and how they can manage their time spent on Instagram.

“We are continuously developing controls to help people personalize their experience on Instagram,” the company said.

“Last summer, we launched the Sensitive Content Control so people could choose how much or how little sensitive content to see in Explore from accounts they do not follow. Today, we are announcing updates to this control,” it added.

In addition to Explore, users will now be able to control the amount of sensitive content and accounts they see in Search, Reels, Accounts You Might Follow, Hashtag Pages and In-Feed Recommendations.

This update will be available to everyone in the coming weeks.