Teenagers on Instagram and Facebook will be placed into the most restrictive content control settings, Meta has said, after it faced pressures to better protect children.
The social media giant has announced it will hide more content from teenagers on the platforms after regulators around the globe pressed Meta to take action.
The move will make it more difficult for teens to come across potentially sensitive content or accounts when they use features such as Search and Explore on Instagram.
All teens will be placed into the most restrictive settings on Instagram and Facebook and additional search terms will be limited on the photo-sharing app, Meta said in a blogpost.
Dozens of US states filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms and Instagram in October, accusing them of fueling a youth mental health crisis by making their social media platforms addictive.
The legal action likens the company’s use of addictive features – such as an algorithmic feed – to slot machines, which manipulate "dopamine releases" in children to keep them coming back.
Meta is also under the scanner in Europe, where the European Commission has sought information on how the social media company protects children from illegal and harmful content.
In November the father of Molly Russell, who took her own life as a teenager six years ago, said tech firms platforms are still not doing enough to protect young people online.
Molly, from Harrow in north-west London, ended her life at the age of 14, after viewing suicide and other harmful content online.
In the week that would have marked her 21st birthday, suicide prevention charity the Molly Rose Foundation, set up in her honour, published a report saying it had found harmful content prevalent on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest.
Social media platforms suffer from significant, fundamental system failings in handling self-harm and suicide content, according to the report.
