Instagram has just announced that a new version for kids is in development and will only be for users under the age of 13. The goals will focus on protecting the privacy and information of young people using the social media app.
Vishal Shah, Vice President of Instagram, shared vital details about the new change. He wrote on the staff message board about the importance of young people and their protection on the internet.
"I'm excited to announce that moving forward, we've identified youth work as a priority for Instagram and added it to our H1 priority list."
Mentioning teens and their safety when using online platforms, he wrote:
"We will be building a new youth pillar within the Community Product Group to focus on two things: (a) accelerating our integrity and privacy work to ensure the safest experience possible 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."
Instagram currently prohibits teenagers under the age of 13 from using the social media app. After its vice president, the main boss, Adam Mosseri, confirmed, in his tweet, that a version of the app is "something we are exploring".
Mosseri said that after Messenger Kids, the new Instagram avatar for teens would really prove to be great.
Privacy becoming a significant priority
News of a revamped version of the popular photo-sharing portal comes just days after the company's blog post. It was about "protecting the young." In its official blog post, Instagram agreed that some people can lie about their real age when registering for the app.
Now, confirming a teen version seems to be the perfect solution for such situations (or not). After all, if they lie about their ages to pretend to be older, other users can lie their ages down, pretending to be younger.
As those under 13 will not have to lie about their date of birth when signing up, they will have a dedicated platform just for them. Speaking of the current scenario, then it seems like a good step up from the Facebook service.
Nowadays, it has become impossible to prevent young people, small children, from entering the online world with unwanted content. With an alternate version of a popular social media app like Instagram, they can only see and share the content they think. There will be nothing extra they will see, which is not mandatory.
The immense impact of the Internet and apps on the rise has already affected the way children behave and interact. So there must be some restriction or limit to what they are searching and doing on various portals. And because privacy is so valuable right now, all of these steps will eventually turn out to be crucial.
