iStock(NEW YORK) Instagram announced a slew of updates on Tuesday that aim to protect teens on the app, in an announcement that notably comes one day before Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri is set to testify before lawmakers on social media's impact on young users. Mosseri announced the new features in a company blog post on Tuesday, which includes launching the "Take a Break" feature in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. "If someone has been scrolling for a certain amount of time, we'll ask them to take a break from Instagram and suggest that they set reminders to take more breaks in the future," Monserri said. "We'll also show them expert-backed tips to help them reflect and reset." Mosseri said they will also be taking a stricter approach to what they recommend to teens on the app via search, explore, hashtags and suggested accounts and will stop people from tagging or mentioning teens that don't follow them.
young users. a take a break tool reminds users to stop looking. chief business correspondent christine romans joining me with this. is this for real? look, they re trying to roll out this feature to take a break, to help you take a break from their own platform here. when you ve been scrolling for too long. you ve got to set the time. after 10, 20, 30 minutes, you ll get a reminder to take a deep breath, write something down, to check a to-do list, to listen to a song. zb instagram also planning a stricter approach to what it shows teenagers and will nudge teens to a new topic if they ve been dwelling on one for too long. it is meant to keep, particularly teenagers, from falling down rabbit holes that could be harmful to their mental health. is it real? yes. it is a start though. instagram says it is going to tweak and improve into next year. this has been a big problem for instagram, highlighted by whistleblower frances haugen s document dump this fall. she told congress instagram
On Wednesday, December 1st, the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on communications and technology will hold a hearing dedicated to discussing potential “targeted reforms” to Section 230 of The Communications Decency Act..