Pinterest Introduces New Safety Measures for Young Users in India
Pinterest is launching some fresh privacy tools, specially crafted to offer better safety to its young users in India. These tools include private profiles, constraints on mutual messaging, and revamped controls for determining who can follow you on the app.
Firstly, concerning private profiles, Pinterest users aged 16 and above will now have the choice to keep their profiles either private or public.
In Pinterest’s words:
“Once set to private, users can still connect with their mates and family by sharing a special profile link. These private profiles won’t be visible to others on the platform and will be the sole choice for teenagers below the age of 16.”
Earlier in the year, Pinterest declared that profiles of users below 17 would be set to private by default. Changing them to ‘public’ wouldn’t be possible. But they’ve slightly modified this approach for users aged 16 and above. However, those below 16 can only maintain a private account.
This is a minor adjustment in their guidelines, which essentially grants older teenagers a bit more freedom in shaping their in-app journey.
Additionally, Pinterest is implementing enhanced follower controls for teens. All followers are going to be removed from the profiles of users younger than 16. They will then be prompted to review their follower list, ensuring they are familiar with everyone who has access to view their content.
This implies that teens who’ve gained a follower base on the app will need to put in the effort to organize their audience. This step will make sure teens are more informed about who interacts with their Pins.
Credit: Pinterest
There are also new rules set by Pinterest for messaging and group board invitations for teenagers:
“Teens below the age of 16 can only exchange messages with mutual followers. These connections are established through a special profile link which expires either after 3 days or when they add 5 new followers using the link, whichever occurs first.”
This method will restrict connections to only those specified by the teens, making it challenging for strangers to connect with them on the app.
Earlier this year, a report highlighted that some ill-intentioned users had been exploiting Pinterest to collect photos of underage girls through their profiles. It was discovered in an NBC report that a few had managed to bypass Pinterest’s security mechanisms, allowing them to view, save, and even communicate with young users.
These fresh measures aim to enhance the safety of youngsters, a prime concern for all social media platforms.
While it’s uncertain how successful these measures will be, given that users can potentially provide false age information during sign-up, Pinterest remains committed to launching more tools that ensure the safety and well-being of its younger audience.
Credit: Pinterest