Zuck’s Damage Control: Facebook, Instagram to Prevent Strangers from Messaging Minors

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is implementing a default setting to Facebook and Instagram that will prevent strangers from sending private messages to minors on the social media platforms. The damage control move comes after an unredacted complaint revealed horrifying claims of sexual harassment against children on Mark Zuckerberg’s social media platforms.

Minors will no longer be able to receive messages or be added to group chats on Facebook Messenger and Instagram by users they don’t follow or aren’t connected in an effort by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to stop children from receiving unwanted contact online, according to a report by the Verge.

Meta said this will be a new default setting affecting accounts belonging to users who are under the age of 16, or under 18 in some countries.

The previous restrictions only limited adults over the age of 19 from private messaging minors who don’t follow them. The new restrictions will apply to all users, regardless of their age.

Additionally, supervision tools are also being expanded so that parents can have more control over their children’s security settings, the company said.

For example, parents will now be prompted to approve or deny a change their child is trying to make to their account’s privacy settings — such as switching their profile from private to public — instead of simply being notified of the change.

Meta added that it is in the process of developing a new tool designed to protect users from receiving unwanted or inappropriate images in messages from people they are already connected with, as well as a feature that discourages users from sending such content.

While there is no launch date for these tools as of yet, the tech giant added that the new feature will also work in encrypted chats.

As Breitbart News reported, a New Mexico complaint against Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta was unredacted, revealing horrifying claims of sexual harassment against children on Facebook and Instagram.

One internal presentation estimated that 100,000 children a day are targets by pedophiles on Zuckerberg’s platforms, including receiving “pictures of adult genitalia.”

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