Online Predators and Kids

The popular social media platform Instagram recently instituted new safety policies designed to protect kids. The app is no longer allowing adults to direct message teenagers who don’t follow them, a step taken to protect kids from online predators. In addition, if a young user direct messages an adult who has been flagged for exhibiting potentially suspicious behavior, the app issues a safety prompt to the young user warning them about making the connection. The user is offered options to restrict, report, or block the messager. Suspicious adults will be flagged as those making a large amount of friend or message requests to people under the age of eighteen. But since the app requires that users are ages thirteen and up, it’s very easy for kids to lie and set up an account before they are thirteen. The company is working to remedy this. Parents, these steps are helpful, but nothing counts more than your efforts to train and monitor your kids into safe and God-glorifying online habits.