Ahead of a Wednesday appearance on Capitol Hill to discuss “addiction-like behaviors” fostered by social media apps, Instagram Head Adam Mosseri today outlined a few security- and teen-focused updates coming to the app.
That includes the formal US launch of Instagram’s “Take a Break feature,” an upcoming hub that will let parents monitor their kids’ activity on the app, and tighter restrictions on what younger users can and cannot access on Instagram.
Users in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia can now opt into the “Take a Break” feature, which lets you set reminders to log off after 10, 20, or 30 minutes of scrolling. (It’ll roll out globally next year.)
The function, which Instagram started testing last month, aims to empower people “to make informed decisions about how they’re spending their time,” Mosseri says. So the next time you fall into a black hole of Reels, Instagram can throw you a virtual life preserver with a “Want a break?” prompt. Tap “Turn on” to select how often you want a nudge from the app.
Mosseri says that more than 90% of teens who opted in to “Take a Break” alerts during testing kept them on, but for kids who can’t tear themselves away, Instagram is serving up every young person’s dream: tools to help parents “get more involved” in a kid’s online activity.
In March, “parents and guardians will be able to view how much time their teens spend on Instagram and set time limits,” Mosseri says. “We’ll also give teens a new option to notify their parents if they report someone, giving their parents the opportunity to talk about it with them.”
Instagram will also stop people from tagging or mentioning teens who don’t follow them or using their content in Reels, an expansion of a DM feature announced in March, and nudge youngsters toward different topics if they’ve been dwelling on one too long.
“We’re testing these changes to further minimize the possibility that teens will hear from those they don’t know, or don’t want to hear from, and plan to make them available to everyone next year,” according to Mosseri, who says Instagram is also looking to expand a feature that limits what teens see in the Explore tab.
For those who don’t want their Instagram activity to live on forever, meanwhile, Instagram also plans to roll out a “bulk delete” function next month, which can axe photos, videos, likes, and comments. “While available to everyone,” Mosseri says, “I think this tool is particularly important for teens to more fully understand what information they’ve shared on Instagram, what is visible to others, and to have an easier way to manage their digital footprint.”
Wednesday’s hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security comes as Instagram, Facebook, and their parent company Meta are under scrutiny for allegedly not doing enough to protect younger users. In October, the panel heard testimony from a Facebook whistleblower, former product manager Frances Haugen, who ripped the social network for its “moral bankruptcy.” Tomorrow’s hearing starts at 2:30 p.m. ET and will be livestreamed on the committee’s website.
