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Instagram's latest update forces new users to reveal their age

New measures designed to protect younger users amid online child sex abuse concerns

Anthony Cuthbertson

Thursday 05 December 2019 14:25 GMT

(iStock)

People signing up for new Instagram accounts will now be forced to declare their age as part of a new update to the app.

The new measure is designed to protect younger users, with children under the age of 13 now blocked from signing up.

Existing users will not be questioned on their age, meaning the Facebook-owned app will turn a blind eye to anyone underage who is already using it. New users are also able to simply lie about their age in order to set up an account.

“Historically, we didn’t require people to tell us their age because we wanted Instagram to be a place where everyone can express themselves fully – irrespective of their identity,” Instagram wrote in a blog post.

“In the spirit of that decision, we won’t show people’s birthday information to others in the community.”

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Show all 11

1/1111 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Hide and reorder filters

Filters are a core part of Instagram, but there are so many available it can be easy to get lost. You can change the order in which they appear, and even hide the ones you never use, to speed up your photo-sharing process. On the filters page, scroll to the end, tap Manage, then drag and drop the ones you want to reorder, and un-check the ones you want to hide.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Never miss a post

Instagram controversially ditched its reverse-chronological order feed for a new order determined by an algorithm, making it easy to completely miss some posts. To make sure you never miss a certain somebody’s updates, you can set up notification for them by visiting their profile, tapping the three dots in the top right-hand corner and selecting Turn On Post Notifications.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Eat less data

If you’re worried about how much of your mobile data Instagram saps, you can limit it by sacrificing the speed at which the photos and videos in your feed load. Go to your profile, tap the three dots in the top right corner, open Cellular Data Use and choose Use Less Data.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

See your Likes

It’s easy to lose track of your friends’ old posts on Instagram, but if you know you Liked it, you’ll be able to track it down easily. Just go to your profile, hit the three dots at the top and select Posts You’ve Liked. You can also save posts in a folder only you can see by tapping the bookmark icon underneath it. Take a look at everything you’ve bookmarked by tapping the same icon that sits near the top of your profile.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Find relevant hashtags

Everyone knows you can expand the reach of your posts by using a number of relevant hashtags, but what those are aren’t always glaringly obvious. You can easily find the right ones for you by typing a keyword into Instagram’s search bar, selecting a hashtag from the list and swiping along the Related row that appears at the top of the screen.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Clear your search history

Whatever your reasons are, you can clear your recent searches by going to your profile, hitting the three dots in the top right and selecting Clear Search History. To go a step further and hide your Suggested searches too, go to the search page, tap and hold the account you want to hide, and choose Hide from the pop-up window.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Hide photos you’re tagged in

Tagged photos on Instagram aren’t as prominent as they are on Facebook, but anyone can still browse through other people’s pictures of you by visiting your profile and tapping the photo of you icon. If you’re tagged in a picture you don’t want other people to see, go to your profile, hit the photos of you icon, tap the three dots at the top of the screen and choose Hide Photos.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Secure your account

Make your Instagram account much harder to hack by enabling two-factor authentication, a security feature that protects you even if your login details are stolen. Go to your profile, tap the three dots, open Two-Factor Authentication and toggle it on.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Share lots at once

If you want to upload a bunch of related pictures and videos without flooding everyone else’s feed, you can shared them all as one post. Hit the + icon, select Gallery, choose Select Multiple, pick out up to 10 of the pictures and clips you want, tap Next and reorder them by dragging and dropping.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Record hands-free

Instagram Stories has been a massive hit since it came out last year, but you might not know that you can record Stories clips without having to hold one of your digits on the record key. On the Stores screen, just swipe through the options at the bottom until you get to Hands-Free.

11 useful Instagram features you didn't know existed

Edit posts after publishing

Most people know you can delete any of the images you’ve already posted, but not everyone is aware that you can also edit them. Instagram unfortunately doesn’t let you tinker with filters and effects, but you can change your original caption, tag people and update the location.

Instagram also said it would recommend younger users to choose stronger privacy settings to prevent strangers from contacting or following them.

Age information would “keep young people safer and enable more age-appropriate experiences overall,” the app said.

Under the US Child Online Privacy Protection Act (Coppa), it is illegal for tech companies to gather data on anyone under 13. However, consumer advocacy groups claim that Facebook has consistently violated Coppa by profiting from the data collection of children.

“Tech companies like Facebook have built a business model based on harvesting, analysing, and selling massive amounts of user data, including the data of vulnerable people like children – putting all of us at risk,” Evan Greer, campaign director at US digital rights group Fight For the Future, told The Independent last year.

Beyond illegal data gathering, fears have also been raised about online child sex crimes taking place on Facebook-owned apps.

A study published this week revealed that nearly half of all online child sex abuse took place across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in 2018.

In the UK, around 1,000 of instances reported to the police took place on Instagram.

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