Instagram has announced that it is rolling out new tools aimed at increasing the safety of its teenage users. As CNBC notes, announcements come just a day before Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri is scheduled to testify in front of Congress about the mental health impact of the service on teens.
As for the new tools for teens, not all launch today. Here’s what Instagram revealed about them in a blog post:
- ‘Take A Break’: this is the main tool launching today. It will show reminders to take a break from the app in a teen user’s Instagram feed. However, this feature must be enabled by the user first, though Instagram will prompt teens to enable it from directly within their feed.
- Bulk delete personal content: in January 2022, Instagram will roll out a bulk delete tool that allows any user to quickly delete content they’ve posted over the years, including comments. While this tool will be available to all users, Instagram says it will give teens especially an easier way to manage their digital footprint.
- Ending the ability of strangers to tag or mention teens: Instagram says this feature will roll out in early 2022 and it will stop users a teen does not follow on Instagram from tagging or mentioning the teen in posts or comments.
- Nudging teens away from dwelling on certain topics: finally, Instagram says it is working on tools that will “nudge people towards other topics if they’ve been dwelling on one topic for a while.” However, Instagram gave no timeline for when this feature will roll out.
It will be interesting to see how Congress reacts, if at all, to these changes at Mosseri’s grilling tomorrow.