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Updated July 28th, 2021 at 15:13 IST

Instagram will not allow users under 16 to have a public account, to make it private

Instagram has confirmed that they will restrict advertisers so they can't reach young users. A user who is below 13 years will not be allowed to create account

Reported by: Amrit Burman
Instagram Privacy Update, Instagram new policy,
IMAGE: UNSPLASH | Image:self
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In view of protecting younger users, Instagram has recently updated its privacy policies. According to the Facebook-owned company, all those users below the age of 16 will have to change their privacy options to private by default. The picture-sharing app has also confirmed that they will restrict advertisers so that they can't reach young users. However, for those existing users who are below the age of 16, with a public account, the company will not force them to switch to private. Instead, the application will show them a notification highlighting the need for a private account and how to change their privacy settings. According to an updated policy of Instagram and Facebook, a user whose age is below 13 years will not be allowed to create an account on Facebook or Instagram.

"Starting this week, everyone who is under 16 years old (or under 18 in certain countries) will default into a private account when they join Instagram. Private accounts let people control who sees or responds to their content. If you have a private account, people have to follow you to see your posts, stories, and reels. People also can’t comment on your content in those places, and they won’t see your content at all in places like Explore or hashtags, "  said Instagram Public Policy Director, Karina Newton, in a press briefing.

Instagram defaults people under 16 into private accounts

"Wherever we can, we want to stop young people from hearing from adults they don’t know, or that they don’t want to hear from. We believe private accounts are the best way to prevent this from happening. So starting this week, everyone who is under 16 years old (or under 18 in certain countries) will default into a private account when they join Instagram, "read the official blog post issued by Instagram.

Instagram said that with a private account, users will be able to keep track of their activity. For example - a private account user knows who can comment, like, tag, or follow them on Instagram. Moreover, other people on the platform can not see a user's pictures, videos, reels, and stories when one has a private account.

Advertiser on Instagram

The updated privacy policy of Instagram will restrict advertisers from targeting accounts of users under 18 based on their interests or their activity. The changes will be global and apply to Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.

"We asked young people to choose between a public account or a private account when they signed up for Instagram, but our recent research showed that they appreciate a more private experience. During testing, eight out of ten young people accepted the private default settings during sign-up," read the statement.

Meanwhile, the company has also developed a technology that will help the app to shortlist adult accounts that are showing suspicious behaviour and block those accounts from interacting with young users, meaning any account that was recently reported or blocked and belongs to an adult will not be shown on the suggestions list, and those accounts will never be able to explore accounts of young users.

IMAGE: UNSPLASH

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Published July 28th, 2021 at 15:13 IST

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