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.”
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued a 90-day compliance window to telecommunications operators to resolve the long-standing issue of unutilised and unclaimed subscribers’ recharges.
This announcement was made at a high-level virtual stakeholders’ engagement forum held on Tuesday, targeted at refining and enforcing new guidelines that protect consumer rights in Nigeria’s evolving telecom landscape.
Dr. Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman, NCC, whose speech was delivered at the forum by Rimini Makama, executive commissioner, Stakeholder Management, emphasised that the Commission was taking proactive steps to address unused prepaid credit on inactive lines, an issue that impacts millions of subscribers nationwide.
“With the rapid growth of mobile subscriptions and the dominance of prepaid plans, it has become critical to ensure that consumer interests are not eroded through forfeiture of unused credit,” the NCC Boss said.
He stressed the commitment of the Commission to creating a regulatory framework that is fair, enforceable, and aligned with international best practices.
The current Quality of Service Business Rules provide that prepaid lines with no revenue-generating activity for six months be deactivated, and may be recycled after another six months.
The proposed guidance reaffirms the right of subscribers to reclaim their unused credit within 12 months, provided they can verify ownership.
In her remarks, Mrs. Chizua Whyte, head of Legal and Regulatory Services, NCC, presented the Draft Guidance on Unutilised and Unclaimed Recharges, which outlines clear procedures for managing inactive subscriber accounts.
She stated that operators will be required to carry out comprehensive audits of all churned numbers, ensure unused airtime is offered back to subscribers through service alternatives, and strictly avoid monetising forfeited recharges.
Whyte explained that these guidelines are not only aimed at protecting consumers, but also offering regulatory clarity to operators.
She added that the Commission is mandating full compliance within 90 days of the issuance of the final guidance, with non-compliance attracting penalties, including regulatory audits.
The forum attracted wide participation from across the industry, with discussions centred on striking a balance between protecting consumer rights and maintaining operational feasibility.
Participants agreed on the need for greater transparency, stronger consumer education, and consistent notification practices.
The NCC reiterated its commitment to fostering a fair, transparent, and consumer-first regulatory environment.
The 90-day deadline signals a new era of accountability in how telecom operators manage subscriber credits and reinforces the Commission’s role as a guardian of consumer trust in the digital age.
MTN Foundation has opened applications for its 2025 scholarship programme, reaffirming its dedication to strengthening the development of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), encouraging excellence in academic pursuit, deepening diversity and inclusion by empowering blind students in Nigeria.
The programme provides three categories of scholarships annually: the Science and Technology Scholarship (MTN STS), the MTN Scholarship for Blind Students (MTN SBS), and the Top 10 UTME Scholarship.
The STS is open to all 300-level Science and Technology students with a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.5 (Second Class Upper or its equivalent); SBS caters to the educational needs of blind students in 200-level with a minimum CGPA of 2.5 or its equivalent.
The top 10 scoring candidates of the UTME, as announced by JAMB, automatically qualify for the MTN Foundation Top 10 UTME scholarship.
As part of its ongoing investment in education, the MTN Foundation has awarded 14,728 scholarships in the past 15 years, worth over NGN3 billion.
The scholars are provided platforms to acquire relevant skills and practical knowledge to thrive in today’s evolving job market.
Speaking on the impact of the scholarship program, Executive Director of the MTN Foundation, Odunayo Sanya, said: “Education is the backbone of national development, and at MTN Foundation, we are committed to ensuring that no bright mind is left behind due to financial constraints.
“This scholarship is not just about funding education; it is about investing in Nigeria’s future leaders, innovators, and problem-solvers.”
Since 2024, the MTN Foundation has increased the scholarship award amount from NGN200,000 to NGN300,000 annually for three years until graduation, provided the scholars maintain the minimum grade point requirement.
The scholarship program is richly embedded with Mentorship, Internship and digital certification opportunities.
The application process is straightforward and conducted online, making it accessible for students nationwide.
Eligible candidates are encouraged to visit mtn.ng/scholarships/ and apply before the application deadline on April 25, 2025.
For more information, visit mtn.ng/foundation.
The second edition of Payments Forum Nigeria (PAFON 2.0) is gathering momentum as organisers have unveiled a strong line of speakers.
Featuring keynote presentation, fireside chat, panel discussion, networking opportunities, PAFON 2.0 is scheduled to hold this week – Thursday, April 10, 2025 at the Function Room 1, Oriental Hotel, Lekki Road, Lagos from 9am-12(noon).
The event themed: “Bridging the Customer Experience Gap for Financial Inclusion Using AI”, aims at enabling knowledge sharing on key industry insights, issues, amongst key stakeholders, with the objective of ensuring a collaborative and proactive approach to push for policies that enable growth, tackling/mitigating fraud and limiting occurrences and losses in the payment industry.
Keynote:
Ebehijie Momoh (Mrs), managing director and chief executive officer, AfriGoPay Financial Services Ltd, will deliver the keynote address.
Special Guests:
Uche Uzoebo (Mrs), managing director and chief executive officer, Shared Agent Network Expansion Facilities (SANEF) Limited and Mrs. Chika Nwosu, managing director and chief executive officer of PalmPay (Nigeria), are the special guest of honour.
PAFON 2.0 Special Appearances: Olusoji Solomon Adeyemo, Azure Application and AI Specialist, Microsoft UK., Ibirogba Oluwagunwa, chairman, Lagos State Chapter, Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN), and Olusegun Gabriel Afolabi, co-founder & chief innovations architect, Face Technologies UK Ltd., will make special appearances at the event.
There will be a fireside chat featuring, Chukwuemeka Enoch Mbaebie, the convener, Lagos Blockchain Week, amongst other speakers, with Chidera Amuta, Marketing Manager, Vendocredit, as the host.
According to Mr. Chike Onwuegbuchi, co-convener of Payments Forum Nigeria, “this year’s theme, ‘Bridging the Customer Experience Gap for Financial Inclusion Using AI’, underscores the urgent need to safeguard digital transactions against emerging threats while ensuring seamless financial inclusion and innovation”.
Industry players such as Bankers, Fintech startups, mobile money operators, blockchain experts, Cybersecurity, etc., are among the expected attendees.
PAFON 2.0 participation is free, but pre-registration can be done here or use this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dE3ZHpSZcaZOL14oiI7s6OYbIeRTqNET7oH-NOm83Bc/edit
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