Did you see this, team?

Meta recently announced an update to Instagram Teen Accounts, touting it as an improvement to their extremely faulty safety tools. But in reality: it’s a total downgrade.

After uncovering how unsafe these accounts were back in May of this year, we just released even more damning evidence that these accounts continue failing to keep young people safe from being recommended harmful content or unwanted adult interactions.

When we released our findings last May, Meta dismissed our concerns, generalizing our research as “unobjectionable,” stating the content was consistent with "humor from a PG-13 film.”

Now, Instagram is making that dismissal their official policy. They've announced Teen Account standards will align with “PG-13 movie ratings” — cautioning that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Meta’s Teen Accounts protections for users as young as 13 were intended to be the minimum level of protection, not the maximum. Now, Meta is codifying inadequate protections as the upper limit of what young users can expect. This, on top of safety standards that have yet to be proven as effective.

Let’s be clear: Meta is not fixing the problem; they’re rebranding it. Instead of releasing data that shows how their product actually works for teens, they offer PR stunts and superficial tweaks.

But our work isn’t about just exposing their harm — it’s about forcing the world’s biggest social media company to respond until meaningful change is made.

Thanks for fighting this fight with us.

In solidarity,

Zamaan Qureshi
Co-Chair
Design It For Us

---

Want to support our coalition of young people taking on Big Tech?
Chip in today - any amount helps.

Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Design It For Us, please click here.