Just two months out from the under-16s social media ban coming into effect in Australia, Instagram is restricting the content teens can see and bringing in stricter parental controls for young people’s accounts.
In a global announcement, Instagram’s parent company, Meta, announced the content available to Instagram users aged between 13 and 18 will be the equivalent to the US PG-13 rating, limiting violent or adult content teens can view.
The company will also alter its AI interactions with teens to a PG-13 experience, following backlash over reports the social media company’s guidelines for its chatbots allowed the chatbot to “engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual”.
Teens will also no longer be able to follow accounts deemed to share age-inappropriate content, such as those that have links to OnlyFans accounts in their bio. For teens already following those accounts, they will not be able to see or interact with the content, send DMs or see comments. Accounts affected by the rule change will be advised that teens will no longer be able to follow their account.
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Blocked search terms will be expanded to a broader range of topics including alcohol or gore. Instagram’s global director of public policy, Tara Hopkins, stressed that LGBTQ+ terms such as “gay” or “trans” would not be blocked under the changes.
Parents will be able to use a stricter setting to prevent teens from being able to see, leave or receive comments under posts and the feature will also further restrict the AI conversations teens can have.
The changes will gradually roll out on teen accounts in the US, UK, Australia and Canada from Tuesday and will be fully rolled out by the end of the year.
Hopkins denied the change was made in part to have the Australian government reassess whether the social media ban should apply to Instagram before the 10 December start date.
However, the changes come as many of the named companies expected to be included in the ban are making changes or expressing their opposition to being forced to kick children under 16 off their services.
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, told a parliamentary inquiry on Monday that YouTube had written two letters to her saying it does not believe it should be included in the ban, as it self-identifies as a video sharing platform.
Inman Grant said she was of the view YouTube Kids and Google Classroom will be exempt from the ban, but the main YouTube platform would not because it has endless scroll and other features that the ban is trying to address.
On Monday, YouTube would not comment on whether legal action was planned to challenge the ban, nor whether the Trump administration was being lobbied on the ban.
Inman Grant said TikTok “did not disagree” with her view that it meets the definition for the ban but revealed that TikTok had suggested potentially a “stripped down” version of the app – a “logged out experience” that may sit outside the restricted social media definition – but said she could not say if it would be exempt.
“They do not have anything built yet, and I said to them we would need to be able to look at it … before I could do an assessment.”
Advice provided by Inman Grant to the government in June suggested there would be a test for platforms that would “exclude lower-risk, age-appropriate services which have effectively minimised the risk of harm for children of all ages”.
Snapchat is maintaining it is a messaging service and should be exempt, she said.
Roblox was one company approached by eSafety despite being a gaming platform, meaning it might otherwise be exempt from the ban. Inman Grant said she has yet to make a final determination on whether it would be exempt.
Inman Grant said she sent OpenAI regulatory guidance and the self-assessment tool to assess if its Sora 2 AI-generated video app – which is not currently available in Australia – should be included in the ban.
On Tuesday, the communications minister, Anika Wells, said after her meeting with TikTok, Snap and Meta on Monday that she was “confident they understand their obligations under Australian law and they will deliver upon their obligations for 10 December”.
