Iowa and Wisconsin Teens Face New Social Media Restrictions

Iowa and Wisconsin Teens Face New Social Media Restrictions

I was a part of the first generation of adolescents to grow up with social media.

It seemed like an exciting new frontier for connecting and chatting with friends all across the globe. However, like many positive things, there's a bit of a dark side.

Nearly All Teens Are Online — What That Means for Parents

Pew Study Confirms 95% of Teens Have Access to Smartphones

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In 2022, the Pew Research Center confirmed that nearly all teens had access to a smart phone.

As more teens hop on social media, more safeguards have to be put in place to protect them.

What Iowa and Wisconsin Families Should Know About Digital Habits

In a report from the Associated Press, Meta platform owners confirmed that they will be implementing new policies to protect adolescents from the darker side of social media.

Meta Announces Big Changes to Protect Teen Users in IA and WI

Meta is the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, two of the biggest social media platforms.

Instagram Livestreaming Now Requires Parental Approval

What Iowa & Wisconsin Parents Need to Know About Teen Livestreams

Moving forward, Instagram users under sixteen will not be able to livestream without parental approval.

In addition, is someone is sent a nude photo or video on the social media platform, it immediately is blurred out. However, users can choose to unblur the image.

Teens in Iowa and Wisconsin Can No Longer Unblur Sensitive Content Without Permission

Now, with this new rollout, users under sixteen will be unable to unblur nudity sent to them via direct message on Instagram without sign off from the parents.

More Protection, Less Pressure for Iowa and Wisconsin Adolescents

Back in September, Meta launched its teen Instagram account program, so that parents could better protect their children from inappropriate behavior online. The goal is to not only protect Iowa teens, but teens all across the world.

“Teen Accounts on Facebook and Messenger will offer similar, automatic protections to limit inappropriate content and unwanted contact, as well as ways to ensure teens’ time is well spent,” Meta said.

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