Latest Features: Make Instagram safer for young people

Disappearing Likes: Implemented on Instagram and Facebook, you can choose to hide like counts on others’ posts and yours.

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• A new feature for filtering abusive messages: The new tool, when turned on, automatically filters direct message requests that contain offensive words, phrases, and emojis, so you won’t see them. There will be a new section called ‘Hidden Words’ in the Privacy Settings where you can toggle the DM request and comment filters on and off. Instagram will roll out this feature in multiple countries in the coming weeks, to get started and then expand to more countries in the coming months.
  

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• Improving Instagram’s work to understand people’s real age: While Instagram requires everyone to be at least 13 years old to use Instagram and ask new users to provide their age when they sign up for an account, they know that young people they can lie about their date of birth. Checking people’s age online is complex, but to address this challenge, Instagram is developing new artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to help keep teens safer and apply new age-appropriate features.
  

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• Restrict direct messages between teens and unfollowed adults: To protect teens from unwanted adult contact, the latest feature that prevents adults from sending messages to unfollowed people under 18 years of age.
  

  Credit: Instagram

• Encourage teens to make their accounts private:   When someone under 18 signs up for an Instagram account it gives them the option to choose between a public or private account. Instagram will encourage young people to opt for a private account by providing them with information about what the various settings mean. Teens can still opt for a public account if they choose after learning more about the options. If the teen doesn’t choose ‘private’ when signing up, Instagram will now send them a notification later highlighting the benefits of a private account and reminding them to verify their settings. Instagram also says that they are evaluating additional measures to protect young people on the platform in the coming months.
  

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Instagram reports that they are working with various experts and NGOs to continue developing their policies and functions.

• Ask for your date of birth.
  Starting today, you will be asked for your date of birth when creating an account on Instagram. According to the Instagram Terms of Use, you must be at least 13 years old to have an account in most countries.
  Requesting this information will help prevent minors from joining Instagram, help Instagram keep young people safer, and generally allow more age-appropriate experiences.
• Will my birthday be visible?
  Your birthday will not be visible to other people on Instagram, but you will be able to see it when you view your own private account information. If you have connected your Facebook account to your Instagram account, Instagram will add the date of birth that is on your Facebook profile. This is not public information and only you will be able to see it when you view your own account information on Instagram. Editing your date of birth on Facebook will also change it on Instagram. If you don’t have a Facebook account or if you haven’t connected your accounts, you can add or edit your date of birth directly on Instagram. 
  

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• Building safe and age-appropriate experiences
  In the coming months, Instagram will use the birthday information you share with us to create more personalized experiences, such as education on account controls and recommended privacy settings for young people.
• Strengthening the privacy of messages.
  Lastly, Instagram is also taking steps to help you control who can send you direct messages on Instagram. This gives you the ability to allow only the people you follow to post and add you to group threads. People who enable this setting will no longer receive messages, group message requests, or story responses from anyone they haven’t chosen to follow. 
  

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These updates are part of Instagram’s ongoing commitment to ensure that Instagram remains a safe and supportive place, especially for the younger people in our community. You can learn more about the Instagram Help Center.

Address cyberbullying: Users can protect their accounts from unwanted interactions with a new feature called Restrict. Young people face an excessive amount of bullying online, but are reluctant to report or block peers who bully them. Restrict is designed to allow you to silently protect your account while still keeping an eye on a stalker.

Simply restrict someone by swiping left on a comment, through the Privacy Tab in Settings , or directly on the profile of the account you want to restrict.

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