Home Celeb & Entertainment Instagram Just Announced New Features to Majorly Upgrade Privacy for Teens by Sarah ShebekJuly 27, 2021 Search more like this technologyonline safetysocial mediateenbehavioraudiencegenderprivacyapprovebasedefineexhibitexplainfollow Advertisement Trending Now Viral & Trending School’s Cell Phone Policy Goes Viral after Mom Refuses to Comply: ‘Nope’ News California Becomes 1st State to Provide Free Meals to Public School Kids News CDC’s New COVID Guidelines: Kids Can Stay in Class If Exposed News Nanny Job Listing Goes Viral Because It’s Bonkers News The ‘Sweet Magnolias’ Cast Is Posting Sneak Peeks of Season 3 on Instagram Advertisement Instagram continues to be a behemoth in the world of social media, with more than a billion unique visitors on a monthly basis. Teens and pre-teens use the site to share photos and memes, private message and follow brands, but the platform has its share of pitfalls. Today Instagram announced changes to the platform that include defaulting young people into private accounts and making it harder for suspicious accounts to find young people.“Young people” are defined as 16 and younger in the U.S. In a statement, Instagram said “Wherever we can, we want to stop young people from hearing from adults they don’t know, or that they don’t want to hear from.” The biggest preventative step will be defaulting this audience into a private account as they join the platform, instead of a public account. That step allows users to control who sees or responds to content. With a private account, people have to follow you to see your content and you approve those followers manually. Even more critically, private account content does not show up in places like Explore or in the hashtag search section. Instagram notes that new users can still choose to have a public account and teens who are already signed up will see a notification explaining the benefits of a private account.Instagram has also developed new technology to track accounts with “potentially suspicious behavior.” These accounts belong to adults that may have been blocked or reported by a young person. This feature means accounts that exhibit this behavior won’t be able to follow or comment on young people’s accounts. The technology is currently rolling out worldwide and isn’t perfect, but it’s another move by the platform to support online safety.Finally, Instagram is limiting how advertisers can interact with its younger audience. The upcoming change means advertisers can only target ads to teens based on age, gender and location. Previously, ads could also target teens on interests, or on activity on other apps and websites. This change was based on conversations with youth advocates and will affect Facebook and Messenger, too.––Sarah ShebekFeatured image courtesy of Gaelle Marcel, Unsplash RELATED STORIES Instagram Launches New Features to Keep Users Safe and Informed Instagram Can Detect Bullying in Photos & This Is Huge for Teens How to Use Instagram’s New Mute Button (That We’ve Been Waiting Forever For) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Copy (Opens in new window) Search more like this technologyonline safetysocial mediateenbehavioraudiencegenderprivacyapprovebasedefineexhibitexplainfollow Welcome to our Tinybeans family! Be sure to check your email for new activities, recipes and parenting hacks – and to see if you’ve won! Do you have a dog or cat? Select YES below and click submit to start receiving FREE pet ideas and inspiration, news about new pet products, exclusive offers and limited-time promotions. Yes, I have a pet! Submit GET READY FOR SUMMER! Enter to Win a $250 Gift Card! Enter your email and zip code below for a chance to win a Mastercard Gift Card. We’ll pick one winner per month through August 31, 2022 – 5 lucky winners in all! email zip_code campaign_name Enter Now! I agree to the official rules and to receive email communications from Tinybeans. By providing my email address, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience possible. Accepting the use of cookies enables important site functionality including personalization and analytics. Accept Decline Create an account to save this content on Tinybeans Choose how you would like to sign up. Continue with Apple Continue with Facebook Continue with Google or Continue with Email By signing up, you agree to Tinybeans Terms of Service and acknowledge you have read and agreed to our Privacy Policy. Sign in to your Tinybeans account Don’t have any account? Create an account here. Forgot your password? Reset it here. Sign In or Continue with Apple Continue with Facebook Continue with Google Personalized recommendations Tinybeans uses personal information to share useful recommendations and ideas for your family. This may include your previous activity, family profile and your hometown. Tinybeans keeps your data safe and does not sell personal information to any third party. Learn more about your privacy and location choices. Close