Meta "Check Your Teenagers' Facebook and Instagram Usage"

Strengthening Youth Protection Devices and Monitoring Tools

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has strengthened youth protection measures and monitoring tools on social networking services (SNS) to allow parents to check their teenage children's contact information and usage time.

On the 27th (local time), Meta announced the addition of parental control features on its instant messaging app 'Messenger' and other SNS platforms.

Messenger now includes features that allow guardians to check teenagers' chat times and update the contact list of chat partners. It also added functions to verify whether children allow messages from strangers and to receive notifications if a child reports someone. However, parents cannot view the content of their children's chats.

Additionally, a feature was added to Facebook that recommends stopping usage after 20 minutes of continuous use. Instagram includes a function that suggests stopping usage if videos are watched for a long time at night. Furthermore, Instagram restricts chats with strangers by preventing messages from being sent unless the recipient accepts an invitation when the sender is not a follower.

Meta stated that these features will be initially implemented in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and will be expanded to other countries within the coming months.

This move comes amid growing concerns that SNS platforms expose minors to inappropriate content, threatening their safety.

According to the 'SNS and Youth Mental Health' report released last month by the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC), children and adolescents who use SNS for more than three hours a day have twice the risk of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.

U.S. state governments and legislatures are also actively responding to the harms of SNS. In March, Arkansas and Indiana filed lawsuits against Meta and TikTok, claiming that SNS exposes children to inappropriate content. The U.S. Congress is pursuing legislative efforts such as the Kids Online Safety Act, which aims to prevent teenage users from being unable to choose content recommended by algorithms.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.