Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Instagram Reveals Controls To Keep Teens Safer
The New York Times: Instagram Parental Controls Are Set Arrive In March
Instagram will introduce its first parental controls in March as it faces pressure to do more to shield its young users from harmful content and keep them from overusing the product. Adam Mosseri, the head of the app inside Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, said in a blog post that parents would be able to see how long their teenage children have spent using Instagram and limit the amount of time they spend on the app. Teenagers will also be able to tell their parents if they have reported someone for a violation of Instagram’s policies. “This is the first version of these tools; we’ll continue to add more options over time,” he said in the post. (McCabe, 12/7)
NPR: Instagram Unveils New Teen Safety Tools Ahead Of Senate Hearing
Instagram is rolling out a new set of safety features aimed at its youngest users and their parents, a day before the photo-sharing app's head testifies to Congress about the platform's potential risks to kids and teens. They include tools to help users manage how much time they spend on the app, limits on both unwanted interactions with adults and exposure to sensitive content, and optional parental oversight of children's accounts. (Bond, 12/7)
The Washington Post: Instagram Is Touting Safety Features For Teens. Mental Health Advocates Aren’t Buying It.
Instagram will start offering “take a break” reminders starting today if you’ve been scrolling on the social media app too long. The prompt is one of a cluster of features that Instagram, owned by Facebook parent company Meta, is rolling out to keep teens safer and healthier online, it said Tuesday. The proposed features include unspecified restrictions on what content is algorithmically recommended to teens and soon-to-come tools for parents to view and manage the time their teens spend on the app. (Hunter, 12/7)
In related news —
New York Post: Eating Disorder Posts Still Thrive On Instagram Despite Claims Of A Crackdown
Instagram is still plagued with disturbing eating disorder images that appear to violate the photo app’s rules — months after parent company Meta claimed it was cracking down. Despite a rash of bad press and congressional scrutiny around the app’s toxic effects on teens, recent searches on Instagram have revealed accounts with names like “theprettiestareskinniest” and “be_skinnyb—ch” that feature images of emaciated bodies and which appear to encourage eating disorders, an investigation by The Post reveals. (Wayt, 12/5)
