SALISBURY, N.C. — Instagram is making big changes aimed at protecting young users on its platform. Starting Tuesday, teens across the globe will have restricted access to the social media application.

This is aimed at anyone under the age of 18 in the U.S, U.K, Canada and Australia. For Instagram users who are already on the social media platform, the company says those accounts will be migrated over within the next 60 days.

What You Need To Know

  •  Instagram will roll out teen restrictions for users 18 and under 

  •  Teen restrictions will place accounts on private setting defaults 

  • Teen restrictions include blocked private messaging from anyone the user is not already connected with

Restricted accounts will be made private by default and messaging will be restricted so that teens can only receive messages from the people they’re already connected to. Meta, the parent company of Instagram, went a step further and announced that “sensitive content” will be limited for these users as well.

Teen protection is a passion for Project LIGHT Director Dr. Jim Duncan whose work is dedicated to bringing awareness to human trafficking in North Carolina. Kids are especially vulnerable online, he said.

“Just in the last several years, the last three or four years, the social media has exploded into more perpetrators coming onboard and working against our kids trying to groom them and trying to get them to give them money, to get them to do sexual favors that can get them trafficked,” said Duncan.

Since establishing Project LIGHT, which stands for Let’s Interrupt Growing Human Trafficking, Duncan said he’s worked alongside law enforcement and in some cases victims who have been trafficked from the Tar Heel State.

“We had a situation where a young girl, 13 years old, found herself sharing back and forth on social media with someone who she thought was just another young person,” Duncan said.

While seeing the changes coming to Instagram, Duncan said parents need to take more responsibility when it comes to online dangers and create alternative options for teens at home.

“I’m very pleased and proud of them [Instagram] for standing up and doing what they’re doing," he said. "We have to solve the problem at home, we have got to get more involved with our children and show more affection and love toward them and give them some alternative.” 

The changes to Instagram come nearly three years after Instagram’s parent company Meta first came under fire about the risks social media platforms pose for young users. Pressures increased again last year after a whistleblower said Meta’s top executives ignored warnings about those dangers for years.