Telecom
Instagram Unveils Teen Accounts with Built-in Parental Control & Privacy
Instagram is overhauling the way it works for teenagers, promising more “built-in protections” for young people and added controls and reassurance for parents.
The new “teen accounts” are being introduced from Tuesday in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
They will turn many privacy settings on by default for all under 18s, including making their content unviewable to people who don’t follow them, and making them actively approve all new followers.
But children aged 13 to 15 will only be able to adjust the settings by adding a parent or guardian to their account.
Social media companies are under pressure worldwide to make their platforms safer, with concerns that not enough is being done to shield young people from harmful content.
UK children’s charity the NSPCC said Instagram’s announcement was a “step in the right direction”.
But it added that account settings can “put the emphasis on children and parents needing to keep themselves safe.”
Rani Govender, the NSPCC’s online child safety policy manager, said they “must be backed up by proactive measures that prevent harmful content and sexual abuse from proliferating Instagram in the first place”.
Meta describes the changes as a “new experience for teens, guided by parents”.
It says they will “better support parents and give them peace of mind that their teens are safe with the right protections in place.”
Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly viewed content about self-harm and suicide on Instagram before taking her life aged 14, told the BBC it was important to wait and see how the new policy was implemented.
“Whether it works or not we’ll only find out when the measures come into place,” he said.
“Meta is very good at drumming up PR and making these big announcements, but what they also have to be good at is being transparent and sharing how well their measures are working.”
Teen accounts will mostly change the way Instagram works for users between the ages of 13 and 15, with a number of settings turned on by default.
These include strict controls on sensitive content to prevent recommendations of potentially harmful material, and muted notifications overnight.
Accounts will also be set to private rather than public – meaning teenagers will have to actively accept new followers and their content cannot be viewed by people who don’t follow them.
InstagramParents who choose to supervise their child’s account will be able to see who they message and the topics they have said they are interested in – though they will not be able to view the content of messages.
However, media regulator Ofcom raised concerns in April over parents’ willingness to intervene to keep their children safe online.
In a talk last week, senior Meta executive Sir Nick Clegg said: “One of the things we do find… is that even when we build these controls, parents don’t use them.”
Age identification
The system will primarily rely on users being honest about their ages, but Instagram already uses tools to verify a user’s age if they are suspected to be lying about their age.
From January, in the US, it will use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to proactively detect teens using adult accounts, to put them back into a teen account.
The UK’s Online Safety Act, passed earlier this year, requires online platforms to take action to keep children safe, or face huge fines.
Ofcom warned social media sites in May they could be named, shamed or banned for under-18s if they fail to comply with its new rules.
Social media industry analyst Matt Navarra said Instagram’s changes were significant but hinged on enforcement.
“As we’ve seen with teens throughout history, in these sorts of scenarios, they will find a way around the blocks, if they can.”
Questions for Meta
Instagram is not the first platform to introduce such tools for parents – and already claims to have more than 50 tools aimed at keeping teens safe.
In 2022 it introduced a family centre and supervision tools for parents, letting them see accounts their child follows and who follows them, among other features.
Snapchat also introduced its own family centre allowing parents over the age of 25 see who their child is messaging and limit their ability to view certain content.
YouTube said in September it would limit recommendations of certain health and fitness videos to teenagers, such as those which “idealise” certain body types.
Instagram’s new measures raises the question of why, despite the large number of protections on the platform, young people are still exposed to harmful content.
An Ofcom study earlier this year found that every single child it spoke to had seen violent material online, with Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat being the most frequently named services they found it on.
Under the Online Safety Act, platforms will have to show they are committed to removing illegal content, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or content that promotes suicide or self-harm.
But the rules are not expected to fully take effect until 2025.
In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently announced plans to ban social media for children by bringing in a new age limit for kids to use platforms.
Instagram’s latest tools put more control in the hands of parents, who will now take even more direct responsibility for deciding whether to allow their child greater freedom on Instagram and supervising their activity and interactions.
They will also need to have their own Instagram account.
But parents cannot control the algorithms which push content towards their children, or what is shared by its billions of users around the world.
Social media expert Paolo Pescatore said it was an “important step in safeguarding children’s access to the world of social media and fake news.”
“The smartphone has opened up to a world of disinformation, inappropriate content fuelling a change in behaviour among children,” he said.
“More needs to be done to improve children’s digital wellbeing and it starts by giving control back to parents.”
Mafab Communications, operating under the brand Mcom, has officially activated its mobile service infrastructure and commenced offering telecommunications services — including voice, data, and SMS — with new number range, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can report.
Dr. Musbahu Bashir, founder Mafab, owners of Mcom
Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has also confirmed the entry of Mcom which listed 0724 as officially assigned to Mafab.
An insider at Mafab told this reporter that “ We are Nigeria’s first 5G standalone network provider, revolutionizing the telecommunications landscape. We are driven by a vision to foster a world where possibilities know no bounds with the power of technology”
Recall that the original 5G licence was awarded to Mafab in 2021, with an expectation that rollout would have fully commence by August 2022.
MTN Nigeria, the other winner of the license adhered to this timeline and deployed its 5G across major cities like Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt.
Mafab on the other hand, requested and was granted an extension of time, which it have finally taken advantage of by the recent launch.
Mafab Communications is owned by Dr. Musbahu Bashir, who is also the founder and chairman of the company.
He is the individual behind the Mcom 5G brand and has been instrumental in launching the company’s 5G services.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has vowed to intensify its collaboration with security agencies to arrest and prosecute individuals vandalising the country’s Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII).
Auwal Abdullahi, head of Quality of Service at the NCC, said this during a media engagement held in Abuja.
The move comes on the heels of the recent signing of the “Designation and Protection of Critical National Information Infrastructure Order, 2024” by President Bola Tinubu.
The Order is aimed at protecting essential digital and communication systems from cyberattacks, vandalism, and related disruptions.
Speaking on the development, Abdullahi said: “The Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) Act has provisions for prosecution, and the operationalisation of CNII falls under the purview of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). Anyone found liable for damaging or disrupting CNII will be prosecuted going forward. We are working with relevant agencies like the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to tackle these problems and prosecute offenders.”
He recounted that some telecom operators recorded significant financial losses two years ago, largely due to exchange rate pressures and infrastructure vandalism.
“About two years ago, we noticed a situation where some of our key telecom operators were recording massive losses. Despite increasing revenues, they were struggling with heavy forex-related obligations that ate into their revenues. This led to poor quality of service,” he said.
According to him, the recent tariff adjustments have placed the industry back on a path to profitability and renewed investment.
“As a result, they are able to reinvest in their networks, which will lead to better quality of service and experience. We expect investments in the industry to increase significantly this year, more than what was seen in the last two years. The Nigerian telecoms industry has great promise, evident in its revenue growth and service delivery, despite the recent challenges,” he added
Also speaking at the event, Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman and CEO of the NCC, reassured stakeholders that the Commission remains committed to driving improvements in network quality across the country.
Represented by Mrs. Nnena Ukoha, acting head of Public Affairs, Maida challenged journalists to act on the knowledge shared at the forum.
“This is not for you alone. You now have this information, do not just sit on it. For instance, you were given figures on fiber cuts and thefts affecting NCC. Who is responsible for those infrastructures? The NSCDC. Ask them: ‘Of all these incidents, what are you doing about them? How many people have been prosecuted?’ Every state has legal departments. Go and ask them: ‘What are you doing to protect critical infrastructure?’ he queried.
Association of Licensed Telecommunications Companies in Nigeria (ALTON) has revealed that 13 commercial banks have fully settled their outstanding Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) service debts to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON
The remaining three banks are nearing completion of their payments, having cleared over 95% of their respective debts, according to Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON.
This resolution paves the way for a new billing system for USSD banking transactions.
Going forward, charges for these services will be debited directly from customers’ airtime accounts.
The update on debt settlements and the upcoming billing model were discussed , during the ‘ASK the Exec’ online meeting anchored by MTN.
Participants included Lynda Saint-Nwafor, chief enterprise business officer at MTN and Adebayo.
According to the ALTON Chairman, there has been substantial progress in resolving the long-standing debt issue.
“As of January, the outstanding debt from banks to MNOs for USSD services was N180 billion. Of the 17 banks with pre-API outstanding payments (excluding Heritage Bank, which is insolvent), 13 have fully settled their debts, and the remaining three are in the final stages of installment payments, with over 95% of the debt cleared”, he explained to journalists present at the call.
The clearance of historical debt is crucial as the industry moves to a new operational model.
“Banks with outstanding debts will not be excluded from the new system; they can either migrate to end-user billing once their debts are cleared or choose to remain on the old corporate billing model, provided they settle their outstanding obligations”, Adebayo pointed out.
Since 2021, collaborative efforts between the telecommunications and banking industries, supported by their regulators, have aimed to standardize charges for USSD banking transactions, resulting in a unified fee of N6.98 per transaction.
Saint-Nwafor, explained the upcoming change: “The most significant change is the transition to end-user billing, where customers will now be billed for USSD transactions directly from their airtime accounts instead of their bank accounts. This means deductions will no longer occur from bank balances but from airtime balances held with MNOs.”
Previously, banks directly debited customers’ bank accounts, a system that presented challenges regarding transparency and control.
To address this, an Application Programming Interface (API) was developed, granting banks full control over their USSD channels. For instance, a bank like GTBank with the USSD code *737# can now ensure a customer’s number is accepted by the bank before a transaction proceeds, after which the bank applies the N6.98 charge.
MNOs like MTN simply facilitate the connection, earning their N6.98 fee for providing the channel.
To ensure a smooth transition and consistent experience, a standardized process for end-user billing has been implemented across all operators and banks: Consent Message: Customers dialing a bank’s USSD code will receive a clear consent message informing them of the N6.98 deduction from their airtime and requesting acceptance.
Aggregator Communication: Upon acceptance, the MNO will contact a USSD aggregator to confirm the bank’s availability, preventing billing for unfulfilled services. Transaction and Billing: Once the bank confirms readiness, the MNO connects the customer and bills the airtime account.
All MNOs have also unified their messaging to customers, providing consistent communication on service levels and transaction outcomes, clarifying if a transaction failed due to issues on the bank’s end or the telco’s side.
Crucially, telco service purchases (airtime and data) from banks are zero-rated when customers use direct strings (e.g., dialing *737*10000# for N10,000 airtime instead of the generic *737#).
This informs both the MNO and the bank of the specific intent, making these transactions free.
Customers are strongly encouraged to use these direct strings to avoid charges, and extensive communication campaigns are planned. Any instance of double deduction (from both airtime and bank accounts) should be reported to the customer’s bank.
Adebayo addressed several key questions, reassuring the public about the implications for consumers and businesses.
He noted that for consumers, the shift to end-user billing has a zero net effect on cost, as they were already paying the N6.98 fee, albeit from their bank accounts.
Transparency and accountability are enhanced through standardized consent messages, inter-industry agreements, and MNOs’ commitment to provide monthly performance statistics to regulators.
“If a transaction fails due to MNO network issues, the customer will not be billed, or any deduction will be reversed. However, if the failure originates from the bank’s end (e.g., insufficient bank balance, bank system downtime), the customer will still be billed, with the reason for failure communicated”, ALTON Chairman explained.
The concern about USSD usage limiting access for those in unbanked areas or without airtime was also addressed.
“The N6.98 charge is considerably lower than alternative transport costs to physical banking points. Furthermore, customers can purchase airtime from their bank accounts at zero cost using direct strings, even if they have no airtime, as long as they have funds in their bank account. USSD is seen as a convenience channel, with all stakeholders contributing to the cost of providing financial services”, Adebayo stated.
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