Facebook has announced that it will enable more restrictive privacy settings by default for any user under the age of 16 who registers on the social network.
Facebook’s priority is to become a safer app so that minors are not at risk.
In addition, teens who already have a profile on the social network will receive a notice encouraging them to use the new default privacy settings, something they can do with the click of a button.
Facebook considers more restrictive privacy settings to restrict account details so that only the teen’s friends have access to the posts they’ve been tagged in, their friends list, Pages, other users, and more. the lists that follow. Additionally, users are also required to review content they have been tagged in and only friends are allowed to comment on their posts.
As Meta has pointed out, to defend young people from adults with predatory intent, it is testing a new way to prevent teens from sending messages to adults who have recently been blocked or reported by another minor.
Facebook will not show those “suspicious” adults in the “People You Might Know” suggestions, and will show teens a message to report accounts they block.
For its part, on Instagram the company is trying to delete the “Send Message” button completely when they are viewing the profile of a suspicious adult.
Instagram already began applying a confidential content control setting for children under 16 years of age last August and encouraged teens to incorporate it so that they would have access to less explicit erotica-themed content or photos and videos with products such as tobacco or drugs.
