Instagram has announced new safety updates geared towards creating a safer community for the users.
Instagram’s terms of use require a user to be at least 13 years of age which is the average age of consent for most social media pages.
According to Instagram press, the information will help them prevent underage people from joining Instagram, keep young people safe and enable more safe appropriate experiences at all.
The information acquired thereafter will be kept private from the public and only the user is able to access it while viewing their private account information.
Facebook, Twitter has a 13-year age-restriction and any other person who is younger than that is fully restricted from joining.
For instance on Twitter, once you create an account and it happens your age is below 13, the account is automatically blocked from your access.
If Instagram introduces such a feature for their users will be safe online especially from malicious misconducts like cyberbullying which is on the rise and if not restricted the children might be subject to online torture.
Globally, in 2018, there were almost 4 billion internet users who are nearly half of the world’s population of 7.7 billion people.
The number indicates a 50 per cent rise from 2 billion in 2015. by 2020 according to cybersecurity ventures, the number is expected to rise to 6 billion, 75 per cent of the world’s population.
Ordinarily, crimes in the parts of the world arse as the population increased.
Instagram boasts of around 1 billion users globally and out of the number 38 per cent are believed to be children under the age of 13 according to Mobopinions
According to another report by Ofcom children and parents media use and attitudes report confirms that 28 per cent of 10-year-olds, 46 per cent of 11-year-olds and 51 per cent of 12-year-olds have access to social media and have a social media profile.
Instagram’s announcement to factor age restriction however long overdue, it will be a great step towards keeping young people safe.
Instagram help centre also allows users to report suspected minor social media users. Instagram also, projects to create a super safe experience through education around account controls and recommended settings around young people.
Secondly, users will be able to control who they can send messages to and also have the ability to control who sends them messages.
Originally, on Instagram, there is no restriction on message sending. One would send you a message despite them not being your followers or even go overboard by adding to group messages without your permission.
With these changes in place. we predict Instagram to be a more safe place for users.
