Facebook Reveals Plan To ‘Ban’ Teens From Using Instagram

American technology, Facebook, has revealed its plan to begin to vet teens activities on Instagram with its new feature.

The new feature, Naija News understands will ban teenagers from having access to some sensitive content on the social media platform.

An executive with the widely patronized platform, Nick Clegg in a statement on Sunday, said Facebook is working on introducing something which will make a considerable difference, which is where its systems see that the “teenager is looking at the same content over and over again and it’s content which may not be conducive to their well-being, we will nudge them to look at other content.”

Clegg while speaking with reporters from CNN explained further that the new feature called ‘take a break,’ will be prompting teens to just simply just take a break from using Instagram.

Naija News understands that the newly introduced feature by Facebook is coming at the time the United States lawmakers are scrutinizing how Facebook and subsidiaries like Instagram affect young people’s mental health.

The senators had last week grilled Facebook company on its plans to better protect young users on its apps.

The grilling follows leaked internal research that exposed how the social media platform was aware of how its Instagram app damaged the mental health of youth.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, has argued for more regulation against technology companies like Facebook.

“I’m just tired of hearing ‘trust us’, and it’s time to protect those moms and dads that have been struggling with their kids getting addicted to the platform and been exposed to all kinds of bad stuff,” Klobuchar told CNN on Sunday shortly after Clegg’s interview, Naija News understands.

She said the United States needs a new privacy policy so that people can “opt in” if they favour allowing their online data to be shared. The United States also should update children’s privacy laws and its competition policy, and require tech companies to make their algorithms more transparent, Klobuchar said.

Meanwhile, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs has expressed openness to the idea of letting regulators have access to Facebook algorithms that are used to amplify content.

Clegg said he could not respond to the question of whether its algorithms amplified the voices of people who had attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. He said the algorithms “should be held to account, if necessary, by regulation so that people can match what our systems say they’re supposed to do from what actually happens.”

Clegg’s revelation about the new feature is observed to have come days after former Facebook employee and whistleblower, Frances Haugen, testified on Capitol Hill about how the company entices users to keep scrolling, harming teens’ well-being. read more

However, Clegg has reiterated Facebook’s commitment to put on hold its plans for developing Instagram Kids, aimed at pre-teens, and was introducing new optional controls for adults to supervise teens.