Meta recently introduced new parental control tools. These tools are designed to increase the safety of teens’ interactions with AI characters across Snap’s platforms. Worries over social media’s influence on adolescent mental health are at an all time high. This comes as recent lawsuits claim that AI companies are responsible for the rising trend of teen suicides.
The new features will be rolling out first in English in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Meta finally has plans to roll out these controls on Instagram too, early next year. Parents will be provided with resources to track their children’s usage of AI technology.
The updated parental controls now allow parents to block specific AI characters and see what topics their kids are discussing. Together, these functionalities will help to truly empower parents. Starting in the next few months, they will have the ability to fully disable conversations with AI characters for their teenagers. This effort notably complements Meta’s recent pledge to create a safer digital space for young people.
Meta’s content and AI experiences for teens will be restricted to a PG-13 movie rating level. Most importantly, they will thoroughly avoid issues such as extreme violence, nudity, graphic drug use. These measures point to a positive movement within the industry. As many platforms like OpenAI and YouTube continue to release new tools focused on improving safety for teens,
Adam Mosseri and Alexandr Wang from Meta expressed their awareness of the challenges parents face in navigating the digital landscape. They stated,
“We recognize parents already have a lot on their plates when it comes to navigating the internet safely with their teens, and we’re committed to providing them with helpful tools and resources that make things simpler for them, especially as they think about new technology like AI.”
Earlier this year, Instagram revealed that it’s working on using AI to detect minors who are falsifying their birthdate. Now, they’re rolling out stringent new controls to end the practice entirely. This move illustrates Meta’s ongoing efforts to prioritize the well-being of its younger users amid the increasing scrutiny surrounding social media’s effects on mental health.
