WASHINGTON, DC (September 17, 2024) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) said that Instagram’s move to automatically default minor accounts (age 16 and younger) to private is a big step towards ensuring safety. NCOSE had requested that Meta make minor accounts private, among other safety requests, in a letter to the company ahead of Meta being named to the 2024 Dirty Dozen List.
“Meta has taken a tremendous step forward to ensure minors are better protected from harm by defaulting teen accounts to private. Instagram has been a leader in facilitating harm to minors – it’s been the top platform where perpetrators have threatened to and have actually distributed sextortion images. We are grateful that Meta has acted on our concerns to ensure that accounts belonging to teens 16 and younger are defaulted to the highest safety settings,” said Dawn Hawkins, CEO, National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
“Meta’s crucial changes towards teen accounts is even more reason why Congress must increase online child protection by passing the Kids Online Safety Act. It’s time for all digital platforms to be held accountable for protecting children,” Hawkins said.
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography. https://endsexualexploitation.org/
