Adults can no longer message teens via Instagram

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Instagram puts the protection of young people first. The platform comes with a new update that prevents adults from just sending private messages to minors.

Instagram stops contact between minors and adult users via DM (private message). With this step, Instagram wants to prevent unwanted contact from adults.

The new feature prevents unknown adults from messaging minors. If an adult tries this on a teen who is not following him, he will receive a notification that ‘sending a private message’ is not an option, the website Tweakers.net reports. This is seen as ‘suspicious behavior’ by the adult and is immediately reported to Instagram itself.

Extra protection for minors

Instagram strictly enforces a minimum age of thirteen for its users. New people are required to state their age when creating a profile. There are many young people who are not honest about this, and the application wants to counter that.

Instagram is using artificial intelligence to estimate the true age of users. In this way they want to offer young people better online protection, reports the site Dutchcowboys.nl. They also want to offer limited functions according to age.

The wesbite also mentions that parents of minors will soon receive a guide to better guide their children on the app. It includes new security and privacy settings, as well as a list of tips to guide the parents. The testing phase is currently underway in a few countries. Instagram has plans to activate the new resources in multiple places.

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