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Parents and guardians will have the power to see who is following their children under an overhaul of Instagram's parental controls.
Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, has updated its security settings overnight.
Children must opt-in, but once they do, a linked account will have access to everything but the child's direct messages.
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Director of Public Policy for Meta Australia Mia Garlick says the change strikes the right balance between "autonomy" and parental "guardrails".
"(A child's) safety is of paramount importance to us, and we want them to have an experience that is both fun and safe, and we want to support their parents to assist them in doing this," she said.
Children must be at least 13 to create an Instagram account.
Once activated, parents will be able to review and get updates on who their child follows on Instagram – and who is following them.
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They'll also be able to keep track of the amount of time their children are spending on the platform.
"I'm a parent of a teen myself so I completely understand the urge to say, 'Do this or I'm taking your device away,'" Garlick said.
"But actually all of the expert advice suggests that that's the worst way to have the conversation with the young people in your lives.
"These tools are really designed to encourage that more nuanced and constructive conversation so that you understand what's happening, you can start those conversations and then you can provide some advice and support without generating that sense of fear that it's all going to get taken away because something went wrong.
"The new tools will allow you to set particular days of the week that you want to have time limits,.
"You might have a study session, you might have a job, things like that and a platform can't necessarily know those very individualised moments, but with these tools, people can customise their experience on top of our investment in the safety of young people."
Instagram has had the ability to block and delete unwanted followers and posts for quite some time.
Last year, they debuted "hidden" likes as a way to ease the anxiety of those struggling with social media's impact on feelings of self-worth and general mental health.
"That was in response to feedback that some young people didn't like social comparison," Garlick said.
"Now we've had this feedback that they want an autonomous experience but with some guardrails and that's what this tooling is designed to do.
"We've steadily been rolling out new tools as we get advice from experts from the office of the e-safety commissioner, from parents, from young people about what more they want to see on the platform.
"The feedback that we got (was) that there were some times when young people wanted to improvise but there was a recognition that they sometimes needed a trusted adult and that's what we're trying to do here is get that balance right."
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All of the tools are available within Instagram's settings as part of a new Family Help Centre.
It is launching this week with tips, short video tutorials and more to help parents start the conversation.
ReachOut marketing director Tracey Campbell says its research has "found that 36 per cent of parents in Australia feel unsure about the role they can play in keeping their teens safe on social media".
Another 32 percent aren't quite sure how to use the safety controls.
"Parents' top concerns about their teens' use of social media include bullying, exposure to inappropriate content, unwanted contact or grooming, sexting or sharing nudes, and privacy concerns," Campbell said.
Garlick stressed the importance of having teens help lead those conversations and opt-in to the new family settings.
"These tools have to be initiated by the young person, but the goal is that by initiating this, it will allow young people to have sort of privacy and autonomy but also be able to reach out to and have conversations with parents or a trusted adult," she said.
"We're trying to ensure that people's time on the platform is purposeful, intentional and positive.
"Parents tell us they don't mind young people being on social media, but they do get concerned if it starts interfering with other activities."
Source: 9News
