Instagram Launches “Teen Accounts”: Safety or Danger ?

AFP – Nicolas TUCAT

On September 17, Instagram officially launched its “Teen Accounts”. Accessible from the age of 13, Meta's social network promises to automatically configure teenagers' accounts to make them as secure as possible. This means identity verification and control of accessible publications. Security, when you hold us.

” Built-in protections for reassured parents “, they write on the official website to present this new feature. False information, cyberbullying, addiction, access to social networks is obviously a key subject, especially among the youngest.

And it is a priori to respond to these issues that Instagram is offering these new accounts. In short, the latter will be made “private” by default (visible only to friends), with restricted messaging, limited interactions, reminders of time limits for use, an automatic sleep mode between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., as well as restrictions on visible content. All of this will theoretically be controllable by the parent affiliated with the account, at any time.

First obvious reaction: that's all well and good, but all you have to do is lie about your age. Yes, if you're willing to recreate an account that's independent of all of Meta's other applications; no, if you're simply trying to change your date of birth. In this case, like some online banks or other institutional applications, Instagram plans to more seriously control the identity of its users; young people will have to take a photo of their ID and go through the biometrics stage to prove that they're over 18.

Second reaction: where are we going with all this?? In fact, Meta is not trying to discourage young people from using its network, quite the contrary. The company is establishing a new framework that makes parents more responsible, allowing them to better control what their children do on social media, precisely to allow them to go there anyway. The impression is good and will surely encourage new users to trust them. The problem is that Instagram is becoming more in control than ever of what it will offer to young people.

We saw this particularly during the Covid-19 health crisis: “sensitive” content includes quite a few different things, from pure violence to nudity, including the terrible “fake news”. For example, on its website, Instagram clearly states that “false information related to vaccines that has been widely discredited by major global health organizations” are among the contents that will be hidden.

A blessing in disguise ? A blessing in disguise ? It is difficult to attribute good intentions to a company like Meta, which ultimately risks making teenagers more dependent than ever with these accounts.

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