Meta is adding new safeguards and monitoring tools for teens across its social platforms: parental controls on Messenger, suggestions for teens to step away from Facebook after 20 minutes, and nudges urging young night-owl Instagrammers to stop scrolling. The features announced Tuesday come as Meta and other social media platforms face heightened pressure from lawmakers over the impact that their platforms have on younger users, who can be just 13 when they sign up for Meta’s apps.

Messenger, Meta’s instant-messaging app, is adding parental supervision tools for the first time that are similar to those that exist on Instagram already: Parents and guardians can see how much time their teens spend on the chat tool, view and receive updates on their contacts list, and get notified if their teen reports someone.

Another new feature is the ability for parents and teens to have discussions directly through notifications if their accounts are synced up.

“We heard from parents and teens about the value they’re seeing from how a two-way dialogue can foster and encourage discussions,” said Diana Williams, who oversees product changes for youth and families at Meta.

On Facebook, Meta will start to nudge teen users to take time away from the app after 20 minutes.

Instagram will add a new nudge that suggests teens close Instagram if they’re scrolling Reels videos for too long during nighttime hours. The effort builds on existing Instagram features like Quiet Mode, which temporarily holds notifications and lets people know if you’re trying to focus.

In addition, Instagram is testing a feature that limits how people interact with non-followers. Users must now send an invite to connect with someone if they’re not a follower, and they cannot call the recipient or send photos, videos or voice messages until the user accepts their request. The feature aims to cut down on unwanted content from strangers, particularly for women, the company said.

It’s the latest in a series of new tools and guardrails for teens from Meta, following the release of leaked internal documents that found Instagram can negatively impact the mental health of its young users.

Instagram, for example, has since introduced an educational hub for parents with resources, tips and articles from experts on user safety.

The company said it’s also taking a “stricter approach” to the content it recommends to teens and will actively nudge them toward different topics, such as architecture and travel destinations, if they’ve been dwelling on any type of content for too long.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【提醒】tíxǐng nudge something that encourages or persuades someone to do something in a gentle way, or the act of doing this

【防护措施】fánghù cuòshī guardrail a railing guarding usually against danger

Meta正在为其社交平台的青少年用户增加新的保障措施和监控工具：Messenger的家长监控，建议青少年使用脸书不超过20分钟，以及敦促Instagram的年轻用户夜间停止刷新内容。Meta和其他社交媒体平台面临来自立法者的压力，因为这些平台对年轻用户产生了负面影响，这些用户注册时可能只有13岁。周二宣布的新增功能是对上述关切的回应。

Meta的即时通讯应用Messenger首次增加了家长监督工具，与Instagram已有的工具类似： 家长和监护人可以看到孩子在聊天工具上花了多少时间，查看联系人名单并收到更新，如果孩子举报某人，也会收到通知。

另一个新功能是，如果父母和青少年的账户同步了，他们可以直接通过留言进行讨论。

负责Meta公司青少年和家庭产品的戴安娜•威廉姆斯说：“我们从父母和青少年那里了解到双向交流的价值，因此鼓励讨论。”

在脸书上，Meta将提醒青少年用户在20分钟后离开该应用程序。

Instagram将增加一个新提示，如果青少年在夜间浏览Reels视频的时间过长，会建议他们关闭程序。此前已有的安静模式可以暂缓新消息提醒，并让其他用户知道你在忙。

此外，Instagram正在测试一项限制非好友互动的功能。如果某人不是粉丝，必须发送邀请才能与之联系，而且在对方接受请求之前，他们不能直接打电话，也不能发送照片、视频或语音信息。公司表示，该功能旨在减少来自陌生人的骚扰内容，特别是对女性而言。

Meta公司为青少年提供一系列新工具和防护措施是因为此前泄露的内部文件显示，Instagram可能对年轻用户的心理健康产生负面影响。例如，Instagram为父母推出了一个教育中心，其中有专家提供的各种信息、提示和关于用户安全的文章。

公司表示，还对给青少年推荐的内容采取了 “更严格的措施”，如果他们在任何类型的内容上逗留太久，就会积极引导他们关注不同的主题，如建筑和旅行目的地。(SD-Agencies)