Meta Restricts Message Access On Instagram And Facebook Youth Accounts

New policy for teenage accounts on Facebook and Instagram (photo: dock. Meta)

JAKARTA Meta has tightened access direct message (DM) for teens through a new policy on Instagram and Facebook. This policy makes underage accounts limited in receiving messages.

On the Instagram platform, teenage accounts can stop receiving DM from accounts that are not followed or not connected to Instagram. This means that users of their age will not be able to send messages because their abilities are turned off.

This rule also applies when a teenage account is added to the group. When Instagram users want to add teenage accounts to groups, they have to follow each other or indeed connect via cell phone contacts.

"(This system) helps teens and their parents feel more confident that they will not receive messages from people they don't know in their DMs," Meta wrote in an official statement on Thursday, January 25.

This system will be activated automatically on teenage accounts under the age of 16 or 18 in certain countries. Meta does not explain which countries get this policy, but it is likely that all countries will get it.

Meta is also implementing this system on Messenger Facebook. Adolescent accounts will not be able to receive any messages because the sender of the message must be friends. If you are not friends, at least the sender of the message must come from a cell phone contact.

In addition, Meta will limit image broadcast access from senders and recipients. This system will protect teens if they get messages containing indecent, unwanted, or inappropriate images for their age.

This also applies to teenage account users. A number of underage accounts may like to share inappropriate images and this behavior is intolerable by Meta. Now, teenage accounts will also be banned from sending inappropriate images.