Instagram Teens is “Very, Very Soft Offering”: 36 Months

Instagram Teens is a “very, very soft offering” which shouldn’t dissuade the government from legislating a minimum social media age, 36 Months co-founders Michael “Wippa” Wipfli and Rob Galluzzo have told LBB.

“It’s a suggestion that they might be interested in caring for what we’re campaigning for. But it’s really a low impact play,” Michael said.

“It doesn’t change our ambition, and certainly the government should not waiver with their focus on changing the law by the end of November.”

Michael noted that Meta’s solution, which will move all teens aged 13-18 on Instagram onto a version of the platform called Instagram Teens, “simply puts the pressure back on the parents,” but he told LBB that “it was great to see that they [Meta] could adjust if required.”

Meta launched Instagram Teens after the Albanese government committed to introducing a minimum age for social media access.

However, FINCH CEO and 36 Months co-founder Rob said it was a missed opportunity.

“It seems Meta has heard this plea and taken some positive steps. Ideally, the government shouldn’t have to step in and make commitments about legislating changes to the minimum age,” he said. 

“Social media platforms should have led the way on this. I think they missed an opportunity here to build trust with parents.”

Rob and the 36 Month initiative aren’t anti-social media or anti-big tech, but rather serves as a plea to the Government and the rest of Australia to take safeguarding teens online seriously. 

Instagram Teens, set to be rolled out globally in early 2025, introduces features for parents to have more control over their teens’ online experience. These features include automatically making teen profiles private, monitoring the language that teens are exposed to, introducing time limits, and limitating interactions. These settings can only be changed with parent permission. 

Katy Andrews, DDB’s director of social and content strategy, sees Instagram Teens as a positive step 

“Since the internet is famous for being able to lie about your age online, I’m keen to see how Instagram will address this challenge and lead the way in online safety - it’s a big move to make the app safer and more positive for younger users,” she told LBB. 

The 36 Months initiative was launched in May to lobby the government to legislate a minimum social media age, referring to the 36 months between the ages of 13 to 16. Rob and Michael have been clear the initiative isn’t anti-social media or big tech, but said 36 Months was born out of a concern for young people’s safety and wellbeing.

In the first two weeks of the initiative, a petition attracted over 100,000 signatures, which the team ultimately presented to parliament.

Alex Sol Watts, POEM’s executive director of strategy and social, said he is glad platforms are listening to the community. But Instagram Teens “feels like a bit of a so-what moment”, he said. 

“To some extent, it feels a bit cynical, like Instagram is heading stiffer regulation off at the pass,” he said. 

Hogarth’s content strategy director, Lilli Lo Russo, warns that  banning young people from technology or platforms can be counterproductive. 

“You’re going to still see kids and teens who will find ways to access platforms, potentially without the knowledge or guidance of adults, and although age restrictions aren’t inherently bad - I feel this is a major step forward with a major platform acknowledging that this is a shared responsibility,” she said. 

Alex added that teens drive popular culture, so there is no surefire way of knowing whether age restrictions or parental controls will work to keep them on the platform.

“Do teens really care about instagram at all,” Alex challenged.

“Or is it cycling out of the cultural conscience, replaced by the next best cool thing? Let's see.”