Facebook plans to create an Instagram version for children under the age of 13, according to documents obtained by BuzzFeed News.
“I am pleased to announce that in the future, we have identified youth work as a priority for Instagram and added it to our H1 priority list,” Vishal Shah, vice president of Instagram, wrote on an employee forum, according to BuzzFeed.
“We will build a new pillar for youth in the Community Product Group, to focus on two things: (a) accelerating our integrity and privacy to ensure the safest possible experience for teenagers, and (b) building a Instagram versions that allow people under the age of 13 to use Instagram safely for the first time, “Shah added.
The new project will be overseen by Instagram boss Adam Mosseri and led by Vice President Pavni Diwanji. Diwanij previously worked at Google, where he oversaw the creation of children’s products such as YouTube Kids.
Instagram terms of use currently prohibits people under the age of 13 from using the app.
“We have a lot to do here,” Mosseri told BuzzFeed. “But part of the solution is to create a version of Instagram for young people or children where parents have transparency or control. It’s one of the things we’re exploring.”
Mosseri said the project is under development and added that Instagram does not yet have a “detailed plan”.
“More and more children are asking their parents if they can enter applications that help them keep up with their friends. At the moment there are not many options for parents, so we are working on building additional products – as we did with Messenger Kids – that are suitable for children, managed by parents, “said a spokesman for Facebook for The Hill in a statement. “We’re exploring to bring a parent-controlled experience to Instagram to help kids keep up with their friends, discover new hobbies and interests, and more.”
BuzzFeed notes that Instagram published a blog post just this week that addresses the aggression among younger and teen users.
“We ask that everyone be at least 13 years old to use Instagram and we asked new users to give their age when they sign up for an account for some time. Although many people are honest about their age, we know that young people can lie about their date of birth, “Instagram wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. “To address this challenge, we are developing new artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to help us keep teens safe and apply new age-appropriate features.”
New features include restricting direct messages between teens and adults they don’t follow, causing teens to be more cautious about interactions in direct messages, encouraging teens to keep their accounts private, and making it harder for adults to find and track teens.