Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

On November 21, 2022, Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta”) announced updated practices designed to protect the privacy of young people on Facebook and Instagram, including default privacy settings for new accounts, measures to limit unwanted interactions with adult users, and a tool to limit the spread of teens’ intimate images online.

Beginning on November 21, 2022, Meta will default all new Facebook users under the age of 16 (or under 18 in certain countries) into more private settings. It also will encourage teens already on Facebook to choose more private settings relating to who can see their friends list and their activity and appearance on Facebook. Meta recently rolled out similar privacy defaults for Instagram.

Meta also is testing new measures to limit unwanted interactions on its sites, including restrictions on messaging between teens and “suspicious” adults. In addition, the company’s messaging apps will prompt teens to report users after blocking them – an action that could mark the blocked account as “suspicious” in future interactions. 

Finally, Meta announced it is working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to build a platform to help prevent a teen’s intimate images from being posted online and that can be used by other companies across the tech industry.