Instagram has introduced greater restrictions for children and teenagers, a fortnight after the Australian government announced plans to ban children from social media.

From today, Instagram rolls out ‘teen accounts’ across Australia, the US, UK, and Canada, over a 60-day period. The new policy will feature increased safety settings, including parental limits on who can contact young users, blocks on inappropriate content, and prompts to leave the app after 60 minutes of screen time.

Dr Sacha Molitorisz, a senior law lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney, supported parent company Meta’s move.

“I think it’s a fantastic idea to put into place new precautions about kids”, he told Central News.

“Anything that Meta does in terms of increasing privacy and protecting the data of young people is a step in the right direction.”

However, Dr Molitorisz added the restrictions were overdue.

“None of the things that Meta are proposing are that radical, they should have been there from the start,” he said.

“It’s the platforms that develop these services and they have the responsibility for their impact on the world.”

The changes came after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Government’s plan to legislate a minimum age of access to social media and other digital platforms.

How the legislation will work has not been explained, but Communications Minister, Michelle Rowland, said the government intended on engaging with “experts, young people, advocates, and parents” as they begin age assurance trials.

The platforms are the best ones to [implement restrictions] because they can set up systems that respond to the nature of the platform.

“Australian young people deserve better,” Prime Minister Albanese said. “We’re supporting parents and keeping kids safe by taking this action because enough is enough.”

In 2022, 77 Australian children and adolescents took their own lives, the majority of which were assumed to be the result of bullying, both online and in person.

In 2021, it was reported that 44 per cent of Australian young people had at least one negative online experience in a six-month period, 15 per cent of which had received threats or abuse online.

However, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said responsible safety measures were better than a ban or age limit.

“We need to teach children how to use social media and understand there are many positive benefits, particularly for marginalised kids, to being online,” she said.

Dr Michael Davis, a research fellow at UTS’s Centre for Media Transition, criticised the arbitrary nature of the government’s response.

“I think the age needs to be flexible, which is something that I don’t see as particularly advantageous in the Government’s proposal”, he said.

Dr Davis believes the legislation should put the onus on social media organisations.

“We should legislate a duty of care for digital platforms for their users,” he said.

“The platforms are the best ones to [implement restrictions] because they can set up systems that respond to the nature of the platform and the software that it runs on and adapt to the requirements of the users.”

A committee on Social Media and Australian Society inquiry, which is investigating the impact of social media and considering changes that need to be made, is set to release its findings by November 18.

Main image created using GenCraft AI.