Facebook plans to create a version of Instagram for kids under 13, according to documents obtained by BuzzFeed News.
“I am excited to announce that from now on we have identified youth work as a priority for Instagram and added it to our H1 priority list,” wrote Vishal Shah, Instagram’s VP of Products, according to BuzzFeed on an employee board .
‘We will build a new youth pillar in the Community Product Group to focus on two things: (a) accelerating our integrity and privacy efforts to ensure the safest possible experience for teens and (b) building a version of Instagram that allows people under the age of 13 to use Instagram safely for the first time, ”Shah added.
It is reportedly the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri who will oversee the new project and led by Vice President Pavni Diwanji. Diwanij previously worked at Google where she oversaw the creation of children’s products such as YouTube Kids.
Instagram’s terms of use currently bans people under 13 from using the app.
“We have a lot to do here,” Mosseri told BuzzFeed. “But part of the solution is to create an Instagram version for young people or children where parents have transparency or control. That’s one of the things we’re investigating.”
Mosseri said the project was in early development and added that Instagram did not yet have a “detailed plan” in place.
“Children are increasingly asking their parents if they can join programs that help them keep up with their friends. “At the moment there are not many options for parents, so we are working on building additional products – as we did with Messenger Kids – that are suitable for children, run by parents,” said a spokesman for the Facebook company told The Hill. “We’re bringing a parental control experience to Instagram to help kids keep up with their friends, discover new hobbies and interests, and more.”
BuzzFeed notes that Instagram just published a blog post this week addressing bullying among its younger, teenage users.
“We require everyone to be at least 13 to use Instagram and have asked new users to enter their age when logging in to an account for a while. Although many people are honest about their age, we know that young people can lie about their date of birth, ”Instagram wrote in the Tuesday blog post. “To address this challenge, we are developing new artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to help us keep teens safer and apply new age-appropriate features.”
The new features include restricting direct messages between teens and adults they do not follow, which should alert teens to instant messaging interactions, encourage teens to keep their accounts private, and make it harder for adults to find teens, and to follow.