Meta is expanding its content settings for teen accounts on its Facebook, Instagram and Messenger platforms in a bid to keep kids safer online, the company announced Tuesday.
The parent company says teenagers who use accounts under its expanded teen account settings won’t be able to see inappropriate content in their Facebook Feed and Reels or within Messenger, and their ability to interact with certain Facebook Profiles, Pages, Groups and Events that “primarily post inappropriate content” or chat with Messenger accounts that post inappropriate content will be restricted.
The social media and technology company also said it is testing ways to restrict teens from seeing too many posts in their apps’ Explore, Feed and Reels tabs about certain topics that may be helpful at first but could veer into harmful territory if shown repeatedly, such as posts about nutrition, weightlifting and coping with anxiety.
Meta said the new updates are rolling out globally.
Meta’s updates come more than two months after a Los Angeles jury found the company, as well as video platform YouTube, negligent in designing apps that harmed kids by leading them to develop social media addictions.
The jury in that case decided Meta should pay $4.2 million in damages to the plaintiffs, a mother and daughter who argued the company’s various addictive features, including auto-scrolling, had led the daughter to develop anxiety, depression and body image issues. YouTube, owned by Google, was found liable for another $1.8 million.
A Google spokesperson told ABC News at the time that the company disagreed with the verdict and also planned to appeal.