Instagram’s Parental Supervision Tool Launches in Australia

Instagram’s Parental Supervision Tool Launches in Australia

16 June 2022 |

Social Media

Instagram has released a parental supervision tool called Family Centre in Australia. The tool has been available in the US market since March 2022. It’s a place for parents and guardians to access supervision tools and resources on Instagram. Instagram has branded this tool “for parents” to “help [their] teen navigate Instagram safely”. Family Centre can only be accessed via mobile, in-app.

 

In Australia, Instagram partnered with groups such as Butterfly, Orygen, PROJECT ROCKIT, ReachOut and eSafety to provide parents and guardians with expert advice, resources, and tools. Family Centre will allow parents and guardians to:

  • Manage how much time is spent on Instagram
  • View and receive updates on what account/s their children follow and the accounts that follow them in return
  • Be notified when their child reports someone

 

Not only are these tools being available, but Instagram have additional functions or opt-in features that allows the user to minimise their app usage. “Take a Break” feature allows the user to set up in-app reminders to stop scrolling after a chosen number of minutes. Another feature being trialled is a “nudge” tool, which prompts the user to look a different topics or subjects, if they are repeatedly searching for the same thing.

 

The parental supervision tool has come about in light of the conversations regarding social media usage amongst young people and the effects it has on their mental health and wellbeing. Early June 2022, Meta Platforms Inc was trending for being hit with lawsuits, in the US, claiming the company built algorithms in its platform that results in destructive addiction amongst young people.

 

What are the implications of Family Centre on advertising?

Meta has not announced any formalities on the implications Family Centre will or can have on advertising across Instagram.

 

Previously Meta announced from 23 August 2021, the ability to use a variety of audience types was removed to target people under the age of 18 globally. Creating any new ad sets from this date meant detailed targeting, custom audience (include and exclude), lookalike audience and saved audiences were no longer available.

 

If Family Centre is a tool designed to limit the usage of the Instagram amongst those under the age of 18, could this impact advertiser’s ability to reach this audience?

 

Reach out to your ADMATICian for more information on reaching under 18s across social.