Home » Instagram, updates to recognize children and protect them from risks

Instagram, updates to recognize children and protect them from risks

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SOCIAL networks are full of children. For years no one has been involved. Recently, however, also behind the impulse of some provisions of the Italian Privacy Guarantor, the issue of control over registrations, the deletion of profiles of minors under 13 (even if in Italy the limit for the use of these platforms is set at 14 as per the transposition of the European regulation on personal data) and the safety of users between the ages of 13 and 18, attention seems to have increased. This is demonstrated by the latest moves by Instagram, which has just presented a series of updates that mainly concern the app’s internal messaging.

The TikTok case, which after the ordinance of the authority ran for cover by launching a large number of security tools, was moreover only the latest in a long series of gaps and hypocrisies regarding the attendance of these platforms by of the under 18 and under 13. There are investigations underway also for the other social networks and just last month the Guarantor, together with Telefono Azzurro, launched the campaign called “If you are not old, social networks can wait”, dedicated to the presence of children and minors on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Clubhouse, Snapchat but also on other digital services, chats such as WhatsApp and Telegram included.

The first point of the news of Instagram concerns the heart of the matter, and that is the verification of the age of the users both at the time of opening a profile and subsequently. While many have no particular reason to lie, most children are obviously forced to indicate a higher age in order to use the app: “We want to do more to prevent this from happening, but check the age of people online it is complicated for all the companies that work in this sector ”explains a post on the official blog of the giant by over a billion users (in Italy about 27 million people use it). Like? Along the lines of YouTube, which in fact dodged the recent observations of the Guarantor: that is, by exploiting more artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions than by the habits of use and patterns linked to each profile, they allow us to estimate whether registration is likely or should be revised downwards (or upwards).

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The second concerns enticement, another sensitive issue. A new feature, in fact, will limit the ability for adults to send direct messages to users under the age of 18 who do not follow them. An example? If an adult tries to send a message to a young user who does not follow him, the former will receive a notification warning him that he is not allowed to do so. A feature that relies on both machine learning technology capable of predicting the age of users and the age users provide when they sign up for Instagram. “As we move towards end-to-end encryption, we’re investing in features that can protect privacy and keep people safe without accessing their direct message content,” explains Instagram.

“The minimum age to access social media usage has been recognized around the world to be 13, but the complexity of age verification remains an established challenge for the entire industry. That’s why it’s very good to see that Instagram is investing in innovative technologies that will help create a safer environment for young online users – says Lucy Thomas, co-founder and co-CEO of Project Rockit, an Australian organization that fights against bullying in all its forms – by exploiting technologies of automatic learning to report potentially inappropriate interactions, enhancing privacy functions and communicating safety information to young users via direct messages, Instagram is empowering the youngest thanks to tools that will allow them to actively shape their online experience “.

Third point: young people who are already in contact with adult users will still be notified. That is, they will receive security warnings that will open directly in the chat of the application. They will obviously not be indiscriminate: they will report particularly to the youngest if among their interlocutors there is an adult who has previously shown potentially suspicious attitudes. For example, if you have sent many friend requests or messages to children under the age of 18. In cases like these, the tool will send a notice to minors with whom it is already in contact, giving them the opportunity to end the conversation, block, report or limit the adult in question. Users will start seeing this feature in some countries this month and it should arrive in Italy soon.

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“There are cases where it is appropriate for adults and young people to interact on Instagram, but it is important that young people are protected from potential unwanted contacts from adults – explains Larry Magid, CEO of ConnectSafely.org – to give young people the opportunity instead that for adults, to establish these contacts, puts them in a position to protect themselves, to manage their own online experience and to have full control over it “.

Fourth measure. Adult users who have previously exhibited potentially suspicious attitudes in interacting with young people will be made life more difficult. For example, they will see limited the possibility of viewing the profiles of the youngest among the Suggested Users, to prevent them from discovering their content on Reels or in the Explore section, and their comments on the posts of users that the system considers under 18 will be automatically hidden. .

The last point of the new strategy is to encourage users to keep their account private, a setting that for example on TikTok is such by default between 13 and 15 years since January. “We recently added a new step that allows a child under 18 who registers on Instagram with a new account to choose whether to make their profile public or private. Our aim is to encourage young people to opt for a private profile by providing them with information on what these settings imply ”.

If a young user still decides to choose a public account, Instagram will send him a notification after some time, returning to emphasize the benefits of a private account and reminding him to check the settings.

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“The introduction to Instagram’s privacy settings for young people is a very positive change for the platform – concludes Will Gardner, Ceo of Childnet International – we know that some young users consciously choose to have public profiles; this new feature allows them to access to a more controlled environment and requires conscious choice when opting for a public profile. This is a constructive moment. This change affects new users, so we must work to address this issue and raise awareness of privacy options for users as well. existing profiles “.

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