PG-13 Model for Instagram is a Great Step

Balancing profits with being bad for people is an age old challenge for certain industries throughout history. Investors want a return on their money and businesses are geared to give the greatest return possible. Few business leaders have been able to successfully straddle the line, but it seems Instagram might just be the exception in the digital age. 

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, went on a number of interviews this week explaining how they have launched additions to their app using the power of AI to default every teen’s feed to only show content that aligns with a PG-13 movie.  The beauty of AI, if used the right way, is that social media can use its power to circumvent misuse of the platform. The start of this, according to Mosseri, is their new guideline for monitoring age appropriate content, and not serving it up to teens. And AI will catch misuse.

It’s been common opine that Instagram and Facebook are keenly aware that kids lie about their age and either start second accounts to view content that is not appropriate or just figure out how to view anything they want. Mosseri acknowledges that, and says the new engineering into the social media platform will use the algorithm to signal who someone interacts with in order to trigger their age. Parents will know with whom their kids interact with.

It is refreshing to see Adam explain that his platform engineers do indeed understand the need to update their systems just enough so the kids don’t work to circumvent their restrictions. The more aggressive they are about restricting activity, the more there is an incentive for kids to have a second account or to lie about the account.

While not letting kids be offered violent or dangerous activities, Adam spoke about exploring ways to help kids get help if they have sad or suicidal thoughts. It’s refreshing to hear Adam explain how it would be shortsighted for Instagram to over-optimize time spent on Instagram if it is having a negative effect on users.