Meta to Hide Self-Harm, Eating Disorder Content from Teens
By Movieguide® Contributor
Meta announced that it will start limiting the reach of harmful content, such as self-harm or nudity, by placing teens on its sites’ harshest content control settings.
“While we allow people to share content discussing their own struggles with suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders, our policy is not to recommend this content, and we have been focused on ways to make it harder to find,” Meta said in a blog post explaining the change.
“Now, when people search for terms related to suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders, we’ll start hiding these related results and will direct them to expert resources for help. We already hide results for suicide and self-harm search terms that inherently break our rules, and we’re extending this protection to include more terms,” the post continued. “This update will roll out for everyone over the coming weeks.”
This change comes primarily for teens as Meta’s sites now place them on the most restrictive content control settings for current and new accounts going forward.
While this change is a positive step for child online safety, many view it as too little too late. Last November, the company had lawsuits filed against it by 33 attorneys general for being knowingly detrimental to the health of its younger users. This appears to be a last-ditch effort to prove that is not the case.
“Today’s announcement by Meta is yet another desperate attempt to avoid regulation and an incredible slap in the face to parents who have lost their kids to online harms on Instagram,” Josh Golin, executive director of children’s advocacy group Fairplay, told ABC News. “If the company is capable of hiding pro-suicide and eating disorder content, why have they waited until 2024 to announce these changes?”
Movieguide® previously reported:
Forty-one states and the District of Columbia are suing Meta for building addictive features into its technology that harm children’s well-being.
“Our bipartisan investigation has arrived at a solemn conclusion: Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“We have a youth mental health crisis in the United States,” added Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. “The young people were brought down rabbit holes.”
To hold Meta accountable for this alleged business practice, thirty-three states are filing a joint lawsuit against the company, while eight states and Washington D.C. are filing separate complaints in federal, state or local courts.
The complaints argue that Meta misled parents and children regarding its safety features, allowing it to illegally collect data on children for profit, thereby violating child privacy laws.
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