Is social media getting any safer for children? Not so much, according to new research suggesting that many young people are still experiencing troubling situations and coming across inappropriate content online.
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A study reported on by Time magazine suggests that nearly 60% of teens aged 13-15 are encountering unsafe content or unwanted messages on Instagram, despite parent company's Meta's introduction of Teen Accounts and efforts the company is making to improve safety on the platform, including using AI to sort user accounts. Â
According to the study -- the findings of which Meta reportedly is disputing -- 40% of young teens who got unwanted messages on Instagram said those sending messages appeared to want to start a sexual or romantic relationship with them.
A representative for Meta did not immediately respond to a request or comment.
The study was commissioned by three child-advocacy groups, ParentsTogether Action, The Heat Initiative and Design It For Us. It surveyed 800 US teens aged 13-15 in August who'd used Instagram in the past six months.Â
The report focused on seven types of experiences teens may have had on Instagram, including exposure to violent or bloody content, self-harm content, unwanted sexually suggestive content, and unwanted messages from another person on Instagram.
The study's introduction reads in part, "Despite age dependent settings, young teen users today continue to be recommended or exposed to unsafe content and unwanted messages at alarmingly high rates while using Instagram Teen Accounts.
"Specifically, even after all 13- 15-year-olds were migrated to Instagram Teen Accounts, nearly three in five (58 percent) young teen users reported having encountered unsafe content and unwanted messages within the last six months," the report said.
Representatives for ParentsTogether and Heat Initiative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This study follows a similar one published in September with the involvement of a former Meta executive, Arturo Bejar, that was highly critical of child safety on Instagram.Â
Meta has said that it has made changes to direct messaging on its platforms to address child safety.Â
Unwanted messages, drugs and alcohol, and hate speech
Some of the other findings from the report suggest that young teens encountered a range of unwanted or unsafe content despite having teen accounts, including unwanted messages or contact from another user (35 percent) and hate speech, racist, or discriminatory content or memes following (27 percent).
Disturbingly, a majority of teens surveyed said that despite finding the array of inappropriate content uncomfortable, they ignored content or messages because they are "used to it now," according to the report.
Meta's AI moves
Meta's platforms include Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. The company increasingly has been stepping away from human content moderation and using AI to handle filtering, fact checking and content. It's also using interactions with its AI to tailor ads and content.
Meta recently came under fire for the way that its AI was trained, with a Reuters report uncovering documents of the company allowing AI to interact with children in conversations "that are romantic or sensual."Â
Meta isn't the only company that's been heavily criticized for its child safety failings. Roblox, a platform aimed at younger users, has been the subject of child-endangerment reports and has been revamping its parental controls and age-verification tools.