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Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) has attempted to prevent teenage users of Facebook and Instagram from receiving unsolicited messages, the company announced Thursday.
On Instagram, in the default settings, Meta is turning off the ability of users under the age of 16 to receive messages from anyone they don’t follow or aren’t connected to. In some countries, the restricting age is set to under 18.
“Under this new default setting, teens can only be messaged or added to group chats by people they already follow or are connected to, helping teens and their parents feel even more confident that they won’t hear from people they don’t know in their DMs,” Meta said.
Meta is making the same changes on Messenger, where those under 16 can only receive messages through Facebook friends, or people listed in their phone contacts.
Meta is also creating parental controls that would allow or disallow teens to change these settings.
These changes come on the heels of multiple lawsuits. Meta currently faces multiple lawsuits from attorney generals in the US.
In December, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez filed a lawsuit against Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the company’s Instagram and Facebook subsidiaries to protect children from sexual abuse, online solicitation, and human trafficking.
“Our investigation into Meta’s social media platforms demonstrates that they are not safe places for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex,” Torrez said in a statement.
Dozens of state attorney generals also joined a lawsuit in October with the state of California over Meta’s harm to the mental health of young users.
On Jan. 31, CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X, and Discord will appear before the US Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on child exploitation and other issues stemming from youth on social media.
Meta is slated to report fourth-quarter results on Feb. 1 after the close of trading. A consensus of analysts expects the company to earn $4.94 per share and $39.04B in revenue.
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