Around 64% of Instagram’s safety features either fail completely or are largely ineffective, declares the new ‘Teen Accounts, Broken Promises’ report, led by Meta whistleblower Arturo Béjar, in collaboration with four non-profit organisations.
Among those partners are Cybersecurity for Democracy and Fairplay, both with strong reputations in digital rights and child welfare advocacy, as well as the Molly Rose Foundation and ParentsSOS, two groups founded by bereaved parents whose children died, in part, after exposure to harmful online content.
The report subjected 47 of Instagram’s advertised safety tools to real-world tests and found that 30 were either defunct or easily circumvented, while most others offered only limited protection.
Notably, Meta rolled out its ‘Teen Accounts’ feature worldwide on Messenger and Facebook, following a global launch on Instagram. The feature gives under‑18 users a distinct, safer experience by enforcing stricter default privacy settings, limiting interactions with unknown adults, and giving teens more control over the content they see. By default, Meta sets teen accounts to private, so only approved followers can view their posts or send messages.
Additionally, Meta has incorporated tools to restrict potentially harmful content, reduce algorithmic amplification of risky posts, and provide prompts encouraging healthy usage habits, such as reminders to take breaks.
Inappropriate Contact And Conduct On Instagram
Testing found that Instagram’s safety tools meant to curb Inappropriate Contact and Conduct are overwhelmingly ineffectual, with 13 out of 24 features (54%) showing significant flaws and receiving red ratings. Furthermore, only five features (21%) worked as advertised, prompting “substantial concerns about the efficacy of its messaging restrictions, account privacy, and anti-bullying tools”.
Crucially, the platform exhibits a “conscious absence of a tool” for teens to report unwanted sexual advances or inappropriate contact, a design flaw that “creates a state of ‘willful blindness’ for Meta”.
Moreover, supposedly the most restrictive settings fail to prevent abuse. The Hidden Words function, intended to filter harassment, proved “substantially ineffective”, allowing misogynistic phrases like “you are a whore and you should kill yourself” to be sent and received between test Teen Accounts without any warnings.
Additionally, researchers found teenagers “remain unable to quickly or effectively report inappropriate or sexualised comments or messages they have received, including from adults”.
Worryingly, the company even rewards minors with an animation for activating Disappearing Messages, which the report notes “can be used for grooming, drug sales, etc., and leave the minor account with no recourse”.
Sensitive Content On Instagram
The report highlights severe failures in Instagram’s Sensitive Content…
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