Instagram will stop adults from sending messages to teens who don't follow them - Today News..

 In another step to curb harassment on its platform, Instagram will make the interaction between an adult and a teen tougher. To make the photo-sharing platform safer for young users, Instagram will not let adults message the teens who are not following them. Instagram will also send safety prompts to teens if they DM adults with "potentially suspicious behavior."

"To protect teens from unwanted contact from adults, we're introducing a new feature that prevents adults from sending messages to people under 18 who don't follow them. For example, when an adult tries to message a teen who doesn't follow them, they receive a notification that DM'ing them isn't an option. This feature relies on our work to predict peoples' ages using machine learning technology, and the age people give us when they sign up. As we move to end-to-end encryption, we're investing in features that protect the privacy and keep people safe without accessing the content of DMs," Instagram said in a blog.

Instagram said that it would start sending safety notices to encourage teens to be cautious while interacting with adults. The safety prompt will let the young user when an adult who has been exhibiting potentially suspicious behavior is interacting with them in DMs. For instance, if a user is getting in touch with a lot of users who are under 18, Instagram will alert the recipient about his potentially suspicious behavior give them an option to end the conversation, or block, report, or restrict the adult.

Apart from this Instagram will start testing new ways to make it difficult for adult users to find Instagram account users who are not 18 yet. The company will specifically crackdown on users who have been exhibiting potentially suspicious behavior to interact with teens. Instagram will stop displaying teen accounts in the suggested user's section and prevent them from discovering teen content in the Reels or Explore tab. It will also hide comments on public posts by teens.

The Facebook-owned app is also encouraging young users to opt for a private account if they are not 18 yet. "We've recently added a new step when someone under 18 signs up for an Instagram account that gives them the option to choose between a public or private account. Our aim is to encourage young people to opt for a private account by equipping them with information on what the different settings mean," the company said in the blog.

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A user should be aged at least 13 to use Instagram. The app has an option to confirm the age but some users can be dishonest about their age. So to stop this from happening, Instagram is also developing an intelligence and machine learning technology to verify the age of the young users and suggest only age-appropriate features.