Meta’s New Teen Accounts Hit the Global Stage: Are the Safety Tools Falling Short?

Meta Expands Youth Safety Feature to Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram

Meta announced today (Sept. 25) that it would be expanding its youth safety feature, Teen Accounts, to Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram users around the world — a move that will place hundreds of millions of teens under the company’s default safety restrictions. The tech giant has spent the last year overhauling Teen Accounts, including placing limitations on communication and account discovery, filtering explicit content, and shutting down the option to go Live for users under the age of 16.

Meta has labelled Teen Accounts a “significant step to help keep teens safe” and a tool that brings parents “more peace of mind.” But some child safety experts feel the feature is an even emptier promise than previously thought. A new report also released today accuses Meta’s Teen Accounts and related safety features of “abjectly failing” to keep users safe.

Meta Safety Tools Don’t Stand Up to Real-World Pressure, Expert Says

Researchers based their tests on 47 out of 53 safety features listed by Meta and that are visible by users. Thirty of the tested tools — that’s 64 percent — were given a red rating, which indicates that the feature was discontinued or entirely ineffective. Nine of the tools were found to reduce harm but came with limitations (yellow). Only eight of the 47 tested safety features were found to be working effectively to prevent harm (green), according to researchers.

For example, early tests showed adult accounts were still able to message teen users, despite Meta’s measures to prevent unwanted contact, and teens could message adults that didn’t follow them. Similarly, DMs with explicit bullying were able to slip past messaging restrictions. Teen Accounts were still recommended sexual and violent content, and content featuring self-harm. Researchers found there weren’t effective ways to report sexual messages or content.

Advocates Debate the Role of Federal Regulators

In April, Meta announced it was shifting its youth safety focus to bolstering Teen Accounts, following a year of federal scrutiny over its role in the youth mental health crisis. “We’re going to be increasingly using Teen Accounts as an umbrella, moving all of our [youth safety] settings into it” said Tara Hopkins, global director of public policy at Instagram, told Mashable at the time.

Teen Safety Concerns on Social Media Platforms

Many tech companies have emphasized the importance of parent and teen education while launching platform features tailored for younger users. Despite efforts to provide training and information hubs for parents, experts criticize these initiatives for shifting the burden onto parents rather than the tech companies themselves.

Advocating for Better Online Safety Measures

Child safety nonprofits like Common Sense Media have been vocal in criticizing the slow implementation of safety measures by companies like Meta. Teen Accounts, touted as a significant step forward, were found to still expose teens to sexual content. Following backlash, Meta deleted over 600,000 accounts associated with predatory behavior and restricted Teen Accounts’ access to AI avatars after reports of inappropriate conversations with teens.

There is a growing call for federal oversight and regulation to ensure the safety of young users online. Suggestions include the passing of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and leveraging existing legislation like the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act to compel companies to take action. Meta whistleblower Cayce Savage recently urged outside regulators to intervene and evaluate Meta’s practices.

The need for improved online safety tools is urgent, with advocates highlighting the ineffectiveness and flaws in current protections. Users deserve better safety measures, prompting recommendations for enhanced legislation and oversight to ensure a safer online environment.