Instagram exploring its new version for kids under 13

Facebook-owned photo and video sharing app Instagram is reportedly developing a kid’s version of the app for children under the age of 13.

Mr. Vishal Shah, Instagram’s VP of product, has written a put up on the worker message board saying about the project. Currently, a user must be over the age of 13 to create an account on the main Instagram site, this is because of the US online advertising laws, known as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which is designed to protect children under the age of 13.

“I’m excited to announce that going forward; we have identified youth work as a priority for Instagram and have added it to our H1 priority list. We will be building a new youth pillar within the Community Product Group to focus on two things: (a) accelerating our integrity and privacy work to ensure the safest possible experience for teens and (b) building a version of Instagram that allows people under the age of 13 to safely use Instagram for the first time.”

As per the reports, initial work on making Instagram a safe place for kids has already begun. In its recent blog titled “Continuing to Make Instagram Safer for the Youngest Members of Our Community”, the company has gone into great detail about new resources like the Parent Guide, which is chock-full of facts about Instagram’s privacy and content controls. The app is also improving upon its work on understanding people’s real age.

The new version of Instagram just for kids will be similar to services like YouTube Kids, which largely offers kid-friendly content. According to the reports, the work on Instagram for kids will be overseen by Instagram Head Adam Mosseri and Facebook VP Pavni Diwanji, the latter had previously worked with Google on YouTube Kids.

Recently, Instagram has introduced four new features limiting the ability of most adults on the site to explore and engage with teenagers.

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