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  • Families sue TikTok in France over teen suicides they say are linked to harmful content

    Families sue TikTok in France over teen suicides they say are linked to harmful content

    CASSIS, France — In the moment when her world shattered three years ago, Stephanie Mistre found her 15-year-old daughter, Marie, lifeless in the bedroom where she died by suicide.

    “I went from light to darkness in a fraction of a second,” Mistre said, describing the day in September 2021 that marked the start of her fight against TikTok, the Chinese-owned video app she blames for pushing her daughter toward despair.

    ___

    EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org. Helplines outside the U.S. can be found at www.iasp.info/suicidalthoughts.

    ___

    Delving into her daughter’s phone after her death, Mistre discovered videos promoting suicide methods, tutorials and comments encouraging users to go beyond “mere suicide attempts.” She said TikTok’s algorithm had repeatedly pushed such content to her daughter.

    “It was brainwashing,” said Mistre, who lives in Cassis, near Marseille, in the south of France. “They normalized depression and self-harm, turning it into a twisted sense of belonging.”

    Now Mistre and six other families are suing TikTok France, accusing the platform of failing to moderate harmful content and exposing children to life-threatening material. Out of the seven families, two experienced the loss of a child.

    Asked about the lawsuit, TikTok said its guidelines forbid any promotion of suicide and that it employs 40,000 trust and safety professionals worldwide — hundreds of which are French-speaking moderators — to remove dangerous posts. The company also said it refers users who search for suicide-related videos to mental health services.

    Before killing herself, Marie Le Tiec made several videos to explain her decision, citing various difficulties in her life, and quoted a song by the Louisiana-based emo rap group Suicideboys, who are popular on TikTok.

    Her mother also claims that her daughter was repeatedly bullied and harassed at school and online. In addition to the lawsuit, the 51-year-old mother and her husband have filed a complaint against five of Marie’s classmates and her previous high school.

    Above all, Mistre blames TikTok, saying that putting the app “in the hands of an empathetic and sensitive teenager who does not know what is real from what is not is like a ticking bomb.”

    Scientists have not established a clear link between social media and mental health problems or psychological harm, said Grégoire Borst, a professor of psychology and cognitive neuroscience at Paris-Cité University.

    “It’s very difficult to show clear cause and effect in this area,” Borst said, citing a leading peer-reviewed study that found only 0.4% of the differences in teenagers’ well-being could be attributed to social media use.

    Additionally, Borst pointed out that no current studies suggest TikTok is any more harmful than rival apps such as Snapchat, X, Facebook or Instagram.

    While most teens use social media without significant harm, the real risks, Borst said, lie with those already facing challenges such as bullying or family instability.

    “When teenagers already feel bad about themselves and spend time exposed to distorted images or harmful social comparisons,” it can worsen their mental state, Borst said.

    Lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion, who represents the seven families suing TikTok, said their case is based on “extensive evidence.” The company “can no longer hide behind the claim that it’s not their responsibility because they don’t create the content,” Boutron-Marmion said.

    The lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s algorithm is designed to trap vulnerable users in cycles of despair for profit and seeks reparations for the families.

    “Their strategy is insidious,” Mistre said. “They hook children into depressive content to keep them on the platform, turning them into lucrative re-engagement products.”

    Boutron-Marmion noted that TikTok’s Chinese version, Douyin, features much stricter content controls for young users. It includes a “youth mode” mandatory for users under 14 that restricts screen time to 40 minutes a day and offers only approved content.

    “It proves they can moderate content when they choose to,” Boutron-Marmion said. “The absence of these safeguards here is telling.”

    A report titled “Children and Screens,” commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron in April and to which Borst contributed, concluded that certain algorithmic features should be considered addictive and banned from any app in France. The report also called for restricting social media access for minors under 15 in France. Neither measure has been adopted.

    TikTok, which faced being shut down in the U.S. until President Donald Trump suspended a ban on it, has also come under scrutiny globally.

    The U.S. has seen similar legal efforts by parents. One lawsuit in Los Angeles County accuses Meta and its platforms Instagram and Facebook, as well as Snapchat and TikTok, of designing defective products that cause serious injuries. The lawsuit lists three teens who died by suicide. In another complaint, two tribal nations accuse major social media companies, including YouTube owner Alphabet, of contributing to high rates of suicide among Native youths.

    Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to parents who had lost children while testifying last year in the U.S. Senate.

    In December, Australia enacted a groundbreaking law banning social media accounts for children under 16.

    In France, Boutron-Marmion expects TikTok Limited Technologies, the European Union subsidiary for ByteDance — the Chinese company that owns TikTok — to answer the allegations in the first quarter of 2025. Authorities will later decide whether and when a trial would take place.

    When contacted by The Associated Press, TikTok said it had not been notified about the French lawsuit, which was filed in November. It could take months for the French justice system to process the complaint and for authorities in Ireland — home to TikTok’s European headquarters — to formally notify the company, Boutron-Marmion said.

    Instead, a Tiktok spokesperson highlighted company guidelines that prohibit content promoting suicide or self-harm.

    Critics argue that TikTok’s claims of robust moderation fall short.

    Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, dismissed TikTok’s assertion that over 98.8% of harmful videos had been flagged and removed between April and June.

    When asked about the blind spots of their moderation efforts, social media platforms claim that users are able to bypass detection by using ambiguous language or allusions that algorithms struggle to flag, Ahmed said.

    The term “algospeak” has been coined to describe techniques such as using zebra or armadillo emojis to talk about cutting yourself, or the Swiss flag emoji as an allusion to suicide.

    Such code words “aren’t particularly sophisticated,” Ahmed said. “The only reason TikTok can’t find them when independent researchers, journalists and others can is because they’re not looking hard enough,” Ahmed said.

    Ahmed’s organization conducted a study in 2022 simulating the experience of a 13-year-old girl on TikTok.

    “Within 2.5 minutes, the accounts were served self-harm content,” Ahmed said. “By eight minutes, they saw eating disorder content. On average, every 39 seconds, the algorithm pushed harmful material.”

    The algorithm “knows that eating disorder and self-harm content is especially addictive” for young girls.

    For Mistre, the fight is deeply personal. Sitting in her daughter’s room, where she has kept the decor untouched for the last three years, she said parents must know about the dangers of social media.

    Had she known about the content being sent to her daughter, she never would have allowed her on TikTok, she said. Her voice breaks as she describes Marie as a “sunny, funny” teenager who dreamed of becoming a lawyer.

    “In memory of Marie, I will fight as long as I have the strength,” she said. “Parents need to know the truth. We must confront these platforms and demand accountability.”

    ___

    Associated Press writers Haleluya Hadero and Zen Soo contributed to this story.

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  • Long Island teen Connor Kasin dies after suffering medical episode during charity hockey game

    Long Island teen Connor Kasin dies after suffering medical episode during charity hockey game

    A Long Island teen has died after losing consciousness on the ice during a charity hockey game in honor of a fellow high school student who died in a car crash last year.

    Connor Kasin, a 17-year-old senior at Massapequa High School, suffered a “medical event” and passed out on the ice during an intermission of the hockey game at the Town of Oyster Bay Ice Skating Center in Bethpage at around 9 p.m. on Saturday, according to News 12 Long Island.

    Multiple “civilians” at the game rushed onto the ice and performed CPR on the teen while waiting for first responders, the Nassau County Police Department said in a press release.

    Connor Kasin passed out on the ice during an intermission of the hockey game at the Town of Oyster Bay Ice Skating Center in Bethpage at around 9 p.m. on Saturday. Instagram / Long Island Sharks

    Kasin was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

    The cause of the medical episode is still unknown.

    Nassau police said they are still investigating the incident but noted that “no criminality suspected.”

    Kasin played for the Sharks Elite Youth Hockey team when the medical episode occurred.

    Massapequa High School announced the death of Kasin in a letter to students and families over the weekend.

    Kasin was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Massapequa Funeral Home

    “It is heartbreaking to report that Connor did not survive. His passing is devastating to the Massapequa community, and we offer our deepest condolences to Connor’s family and friends,” the letter said.

    School officials said grief counseling will be available to students this week.

    The teen collapsed during the charity match in honor of a Syosset graduate, Sabrina Navarett, who died in a car crash last year.

    The game was held by a foundation in Navarett’s name to raise scholarship money and offer support to grieving parents whose children have passed.

    Navaretta’s parents, John and Mara, released a statement on Kasin’s tragic death and offered their condolences to the hockey star’s family.

    “There are no words to convey our heartbreak that we feel as last night was supposed to be a fun night. The community came together to celebrate Sabrina’s life and our family’s commitment to help with scholarship, dog rescue and assisting grieving parents,” John and Mara Navaretta said, according to CBS News.

    “We would like the Kasin family to know our commitment to you. Connor was there to play for Sabrina and our family is here for you. Please take the time to grieve and be kind to yourself as the waves of grief can knock you over. John and I are here for you when you are ready.”

    Town of Oyster Bay Ice Skating Center. Google maps

    Kasin’s travel hockey team, the Sharks Elite Youth Hockey, also posted on Facebook Sunday confirming his death.

    His coach, Jeff Tempone, called his player’s death “devastating.”

    “He was a coach’s dream. You coach him and he loved the game. It’s missing someone. It’s missing someone very special,” Tempone told CBS News. “Probably in the best shape on the team, as far as being physical, and was just a great kid, highly coachable kid, always encouraging his teammates on the bench.”

    “It was devastating. It’s a 17-year-old kid — has his whole life ahead of him,” Tempone said.

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  • Teen hockey player killed by stray bullet during ride home from game in St. Louis

    Teen hockey player killed by stray bullet during ride home from game in St. Louis

    A 16-year-old has died after being hit by a stray bullet last weekend on a St. Louis highway.

    Colin Brown was hit Saturday night while being driven home in his father’s car after playing a hockey game, CBS affiliate KMOV-TV reported.

    The high school junior died Wednesday in a hospital, police said.

    Police spokesman Mitch McCoy called it a “rare” situation of someone being struck by a stray bullet in the city.

    No arrests have been made but police have received tips and new video evidence.

    Lily Paniucki told KMOV-TV she was in downtown St. Louis for a friend’s birthday party when she heard Brown’s dad shouting for help. She told the station she jumped in to perform CPR. Brown was pronounced dead at the hospital on Wednesday.

    Mitch McCoy, spokesperson for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, said Brown’s organs were donated, the station reported.

    “This donation is an example of the type of young man Colin was and the kind of family he grew up in. Their steadfast commitment to serve those around them – should inspire us all,” McCoy said.

    St. Louis police are asking anyone with information to come forward.

    More than 200 people attended a vigil for Brown on Monday, and members of his hockey team met Wednesday to remember him. The St. Louis Blues plan to hold a moment of silence before their Saturday hockey game.

    “He’s the first guy to pat you when you’re down and the first to celebrate you when you’re up,” Blake Ryan, assistant coach of Brown’s team, told the St; Louis Post-Dispatch. “He was a natural leader and always quick to do the right thing.”

    Missouri Gov. Elect Mike Kehoe offered condolences to Brown’s family in a social media post.

    “Devastated to hear of the passing of Colin Brown, a 16-year-old who was tragically shot while riding home from his hockey game on I-55,” Kehoe said. “The lawlessness plaguing St. Louis must stop, and the criminal responsible for this tragedy must be held accountable.”



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  • Australian father of teen sextortion victim backs banning young children from social media

    Australian father of teen sextortion victim backs banning young children from social media

    MELBOURNE, Australia — Wayne Holdsworth became an advocate for banning Australian children younger than 16 from social media because his son took his own life after falling victim to an online sextortion scam.

    Mac Holdsworth died last year at his Melbourne family home at the age of 17 after a 47-year-old Sydney man who purported to be an 18-year-old woman demanded money for an intimate image the boy had shared.

    Since then, the grieving father has taken his tragic story to around 20 schools to warn students of the risks of social media.

    “I saw firsthand the damage that social media could do. I saw Mac, my son, get sexually extorted on social media,” Holdsworth said. “His mental health deteriorated at a rapid rate.”

    Online predators began approaching the teenager before his 16th birthday and his father believes such a ban could have saved his life.

    Australia’s House of Representatives on Wednesday voted for such a ban and the Senate is expected to make it law soon.

    Holdsworth said most of the 3,000 students he’s spoken to, from age 12 to 17, agree with a ban on children under the age of 16.

    “They come up to me and they say, ‘I’m so glad that this is going to be implemented,’” Holdsworth said. “Even the kids see it now that they’re going to be protected from those predators outside that are preying on them.”

    He said three girls approached him after a school address on Monday to tell him that they were being subjected to sextortion. One had already handed over 2,500 Australian dollars ($1,600) of her parents’ money to a blackmailer.

    Holdsworth said he was the first adult they had confided in.

    “The parent won’t know until the credit card statement comes out,” he said.

    “So it’s prevalent. It happened last night and it’ll happen tonight,” he added.

    Holdsworth described the government plan to ban children younger than 16 from social media as “absolutely essential for the safety of our children.”

    But not all parents are convinced that banning young children from social media is the answer.

    Critics say the legislation was rushed through Parliament without adequate scrutiny, would not work, would create privacy risks for users of all ages and would take away parents’ authority to decide what’s best for their children.

    They also argue the ban would isolate children, deprive them of positive aspects of social media, drive children to the dark web, make children too young for social media reluctant to report harms they encounter, and take away incentives for platforms to make online spaces safer.

    Independent Sydney lawmaker Kylea Tink on Tuesday became the first member of the House of Representatives to speak publicly against the bill, which would make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts.

    “As a mom of three young adults … I’m very aware of the negative impacts of social media and the challenges of parenting in this digital world,” Tink told Parliament. “I also recognize, however, that my children are digital natives and are very literate about how these platforms work. For this reason, I encourage everyone involved in this debate to ensure they are listening to the voices of young Australians when it comes to this decision-making process rather than assuming that the grownups in the room know best.”

    Tink was among 13 lawmakers who voted against the bill in the House on Wednesday. They were overwhelmed by 102 legislators who voted for it.

    The platforms have urged a Senate committee that examined the legislation on Monday to delay a vote until after a government-commissioned evaluation of age assurance technologies is completed next June.

    The four-hour committee meeting on Monday attracted 15,000 written submissions.

    X Corp. told the committee that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s platform had “serious concerns as to the lawfulness of the bill,” including its compatibility with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

    “There is no evidence that banning young people from social media will work and to make it law in the form proposed is highly problematic,” X said.

    Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said the legislation was “inconsistent with what Australian parents have told us that they want, which is a simple and effective way for them to set controls and manage their teens’ online experience.”

    Under the bill, parental consent for children to use social media does not override the ban.

    Lizzie O’Shea, chair of the Digital Rights Watch charity, which aims to uphold the digital rights of Australians, said she was appalled by the process and limited timeframe the government used to pass such significant and contentious legislation.

    She said she was very aware of the serious risks posed by social media platforms, “but I do not support a ban personally because I understand both the limits of that particular policy and the expert evidence that is coming out from people who work in this space about the problems for young people being excluded from those spaces,” O’Shea said.

    Her concerns centered on privacy, negative mental health impacts on excluded children and the possibility that young children would find ways to access social media spaces that would become even less child friendly as a result of the ban.

    “I’m profoundly aware of the dangers of large social media platforms running a certain kind of business model that prioritizes data extraction and exploitation of vulnerability over the public interest or the building of community and the protection of democracy,” she said.

    Swinburne University digital media expert Belinda Barnet, who supports the ban, feels she is part of a minority among professionals in the digital field.

    “I like it mainly because I think many of the social media platforms as they exist right now are not suitable environments for young children,” she said.

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  • Orlando Halloween mass shooting victim identified as teen soccer star

    Orlando Halloween mass shooting victim identified as teen soccer star

    By Oliver Salt

    Published: | Updated:

    A teenage soccer star has been identified as one of two people killed in a mass shooting at a Halloween celebration in Orlando on Friday.

    Timothy Schmidt Jr., 19, was enjoying a night out with some friends outside ‘The Block’ – a seven-venue entertainment district in downtown Orlando – when a 17-year-old suspect allegedly opened fire on a crowd of thousands of partygoers.

    The University of Central Florida freshman and Weston FC soccer player was one of two fatalities on the night, while another eight people were injured in the shooting, the regional police department said on Friday.

    Officers responded to reports of shots fired at Central BoA teenage soccer star has been identified as one of two people killed in a mass shooting ulevard and Orange Avenue at around 1am local time and within minutes, a second shooting was witnessed by officers south of Washington Street on Orange Avenue.

    Schmidt and another man, identified as 25-year-old Tyrek Hill, were eventually pronounced dead at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

    A teenage soccer star has been identified as one of two people killed in a mass shooting

    A teenage soccer star has been identified as one of two people killed in a mass shooting

    Timothy Schmidt Jr, 19, was out with friends in downtown Orlando when a gunman opened fire

    Timothy Schmidt Jr, 19, was out with friends in downtown Orlando when a gunman opened fire

    Timothy’s heartbroken father, Timothy Schmidt Sr., opened up on the pain of losing his ‘one of a kind’ son in an interview with The New York Post on Saturday.

    ‘One month before I dropped him off for his summer session at UCF he was the best man in my wedding and gave the best speech ever,’ Schmidt Sr said. 

    ‘He brought everyone to tears. He was my mini me and my best friend. We had such a special bond.’

    After the shooting, people in Halloween costumes stood in the incident area as emergency personnel attended to casualties lying in the street.

    Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said at a press conference that the alleged gunman, Jaylen Dwayne Edgar, had been identified and taken into custody.

    ‘He was just out with his friends having fun,’ Schmidt Sr. said about his late son.

    A woman, 26, is said to have been hospitalized after she was trampled on during the chaos after Edgar allegedly pulled out a handgun and opened fire.

    The suspect then ran and appeared a block away amid the mad scramble of the crowd at Orange Avenue and Washington Street, where he is understood to have pulled the trigger once again.

    Schmidt's heartbroken father (third from left) paid a devastating tribute to his son on Saturday

    Schmidt’s heartbroken father (third from left) paid a devastating tribute to his son on Saturday

    Suspect Jaylen Dwayne Edgar, 17, has been hit with eight criminal charges over the shooting

    Suspect Jaylen Dwayne Edgar, 17, has been hit with eight criminal charges over the shooting

    Police have released footage of the moment he allegedly opened fire on the crowd

    Police have released footage of the moment he allegedly opened fire on the crowd

    Edgar has been hit with two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm and six attempted murder charges.

    Police have released footage of the moment he allegedly opened fire on the crowd in downtown Orlando, as well as cops tackling him to the ground and arresting him. 

    Schmidt Jr. was playing for USL League Two team Weston FC before his tragic death on Friday night. He was also in his first year at the University of Central Florida.

    ‘He was an extraordinary person, loving son, caring friend, talented soccer player, astounding teammate, kind soul, hardworking student and individual with an extremely warm heart and a witty sense of humor,’ said student Jacob Egozi, who created a GoFundMe to raise money to support Timothy’s father.

    At the time of writing the fundraising page, which has a $40,000 target, has brought in just over $30,000.

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  • An AI chatbot pushed a teen to kill himself, a lawsuit against its creator alleges

    An AI chatbot pushed a teen to kill himself, a lawsuit against its creator alleges

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In the final moments before he took his own life, 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III took out his phone and messaged the chatbot that had become his closest friend.

    For months, Sewell had become increasingly isolated from his real life as he engaged in highly sexualized conversations with the bot, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed in a federal court in Orlando this week.

    The legal filing states that the teen openly discussed his suicidal thoughts and shared his wishes for a pain-free death with the bot, named after the fictional character Daenerys Targaryen from the television show “Game of Thrones.”

    EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

    On Feb. 28, Sewell told the bot he was ‘coming home’ — and it encouraged him to do so, the lawsuit says.

    “I promise I will come home to you. I love you so much, Dany,” Sewell told the chatbot.

    “I love you too,” the bot replied. “Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love.”

    “What if I told you I could come home right now?” he asked.

    “Please do, my sweet king,” the bot messaged back.

    Just seconds after the Character.AI bot told him to “come home,” the teen took his own life, according to the lawsuit, filed this week by Sewell’s mother, Megan Garcia, of Orlando, against Character Technologies Inc.

    Charter Technologies is the company behind Character.AI, an app that allows users to create customizable characters or interact with those generated by others, spanning experiences from imaginative play to mock job interviews. The company says the artificial personas are designed to “feel alive” and “human-like.”

    “Imagine speaking to super intelligent and life-like chat bot Characters that hear you, understand you and remember you,” reads a description for the app on Google Play. “We encourage you to push the frontier of what’s possible with this innovative technology.”

    Garcia’s attorneys allege the company engineered a highly addictive and dangerous product targeted specifically to kids, “actively exploiting and abusing those children as a matter of product design,” and pulling Sewell into an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that led to his suicide.

    “We believe that if Sewell Setzer had not been on Character.AI, he would be alive today,” said Matthew Bergman, founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center, which is representing Garcia.

    A spokesperson for Character.AI said Friday that the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation. In a blog post published the day the lawsuit was filed, the platform announced new “community safety updates,” including guardrails for children and suicide prevention resources.

    “We are creating a different experience for users under 18 that includes a more stringent model to reduce the likelihood of encountering sensitive or suggestive content,” the company said in a statement to The Associated Press. “We are working quickly to implement those changes for younger users.”

    Google and its parent company, Alphabet, have also been named as defendants in the lawsuit. The AP left multiple email messages with the companies on Friday.

    In the months leading up to his death, Garcia’s lawsuit says, Sewell felt he had fallen in love with the bot.

    While unhealthy attachments to AI chatbots can cause problems for adults, for young people it can be even riskier — as with social media — because their brain is not fully developed when it comes to things like impulse control and understanding the consequences of their actions, experts say.

    James Steyer, the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Common Sense Media, said the lawsuit “underscores the growing influence — and severe harm — that generative AI chatbot companions can have on the lives of young people when there are no guardrails in place.”

    Kids’ overreliance on AI companions, he added, can have significant effects on grades, friends, sleep and stress, “all the way up to the extreme tragedy in this case.”

    “This lawsuit serves as a wake-up call for parents, who should be vigilant about how their children interact with these technologies,” Steyer said.

    Common Sense Media, which issues guides for parents and educators on responsible technology use, says it is critical that parents talk openly to their kids about the risks of AI chatbots and monitor their interactions.

    “Chatbots are not licensed therapists or best friends, even though that’s how they are packaged and marketed, and parents should be cautious of letting their children place too much trust in them,” Steyer said.

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this report. Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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  • Instagram makes teen accounts private as pressure mounts on the app to protect children

    Instagram makes teen accounts private as pressure mounts on the app to protect children

    Instagram is making teen accounts mandatory for those under 18 as it tries to make the platform safer for children amid a growing backlash against how social media affects young people’s lives.

    Beginning Tuesday in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, anyone under under 18 who signs up for Instagram will be placed into teen accounts — which will be private by default — and those with existing accounts will be migrated over the next 60 days. Teens in the European Union will see their accounts adjusted later this year.

    Meta acknowledges that teenagers may lie about their age and says it will require them to verify their ages in more instances, like if they try to create a new account with an adult birthday. The Menlo Park, California company also said it is building technology that proactively finds teen accounts that pretend to be grownups and automatically places them into the restricted teen accounts.

    The teen accounts will be private by default. Private messages are restricted so teens can only receive them from people they follow or are already connected to. “Sensitive content,” such as videos of people fighting or those promoting cosmetic procedures, will be limited, Meta said. Teens will also get notifications if they are on Instagram for more than 60 minutes and a “sleep mode” will be enabled that turns off notifications and sends auto-replies to direct messages from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m.

    While these settings will be turned on for all teens, 16 and 17-year-olds will be able to turn them off. Kids under 16 will need their parents’ permission to do so.

    “The three concerns we’re hearing from parents are that their teens are seeing content that they don’t want to see or that they’re getting contacted by people they don’t want to be contacted by or that they’re spending too much on the app,” said Naomi Gleit, head of product at Meta. “So teen accounts is really focused on addressing those three concerns.”

    The announcement comes as the company faces lawsuits from dozens of U.S. states that accuse it of harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms.

    In the past, Meta’s efforts at addressing teen safety and mental health on its platforms have been met with criticism that the changes don’t go far enough. For instance, while kids will get a notification when they’ve spent 60 minutes on the app, they will be able to bypass it and continue scrolling.

    That’s unless the child’s parents turn on “parental supervision” mode, where parents can limit teens’ time on Instagram to a specific amount of time, such as 15 minutes.

    With the latest changes, Meta is giving parents more options to oversee their kids’ accounts. Those under 16 will need a parent or guardian’s permission to change their settings to less restrictive ones. They can do this by setting up “parental supervision” on their accounts and connecting them to a parent or guardian.

    Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said last week that parents don’t use the parental controls the company has introduced in recent years.

    Gleit said she thinks teen accounts will create a “big incentive for parents and teens to set up parental supervision.”

    “Parents will be able to see, via the family center, who is messaging their teen and hopefully have a conversation with their teen,” she said. “If there is bullying or harassment happening, parents will have visibility into who their teen’s following, who’s following their teen, who their teen has messaged in the past seven days and hopefully have some of these conversations and help them navigate these really difficult situations online.”

    U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said last year that tech companies put too much on parents when it comes to keeping children safe on social media.

    “We’re asking parents to manage a technology that’s rapidly evolving that fundamentally changes how their kids think about themselves, how they build friendships, how they experience the world — and technology, by the way, that prior generations never had to manage,” Murthy said in May 2023.

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  • ‘Teen Mom’ Tyler Baltierra New Job To Blame For Issues With Carly

    ‘Teen Mom’ Tyler Baltierra New Job To Blame For Issues With Carly

    Tyler Baltierra and his wife Catelynn Lowell have been making waves on social media recently. The Teen Mom stars have been bashing the adoptive parents of their oldest daughter, Carly, claiming that they’ve cut off contact with Cate and Tyler. However, fans think that Carly’s adoptive parents, Brandon and Teresa, may have had a good reason for doing so, and it has to do with Tyler’s new job. Keep reading to see what they’re saying.

    Catelynn & Tyler Have Been Dragging Carly’s Parents Online

    Teen Mom fans have watched an absolute dumpster fire unfold on social media recently. Catelynn and Tyler Baltierra have been speaking out publicly against Teresa and Brandon Davis.

    As long-time viewers know, Brandon and Teresa adopted Catelynn and Tyler’s baby, Carly, when they were on Teen Mom OG. The young parents decided that adoption was the best option for themselves and their baby at the time. They agreed to have an open adoption and visitation through her fourth birthday.

    Tyler Baltierra, Catelynn Lowell-Instagram
    Tyler Baltierra, Catelynn Lowell-Instagram

    At that time, the adoptive parents would be allowed to make a decision about whether or not visits would continue. Now, Carly is 15 years old and Catelynn and Tyler have been cut off from communicating with her.

    While the Teen Mom stars are exploding about this online, fans think that their choices probably have something to do with Brandon and Teresa’s decision. Specifically, Tyler Baltierra’s new side job on Only Fans.

    Tyler Baltierra’s Side Gig Could Be A Reason Why They’re Cut Off

    People took to Reddit to discuss the possibility of Tyler’s side gig having an impact on the parents’ choice to cut them off.

    The original poster wrote, “Personally if I was Brandon & Teresa and I found out the bio dad of my adoptive kid was on OnlyFans and publicly advertised that online (as does bio mom about bio dad being on there and looking sexy) I’d sever contact too!”

    They continued, stating that Carly is at an age where she doesn’t need to know about Only Fans or that “lifestyle or sex work.”

    Tyler Baltierra-InstagramTyler Baltierra-Instagram
    Tyler Baltierra-Instagram

    Other Teen Mom fans took to the comments and agreed. “Aren’t B & T super religious/conservative?” one person pointed out.

    Tyler, of course, isn’t the only Teen Mom star who is on Only Fans. Another Reddit user pointed out,”The only fans is a legitimate, concerning issue for Brandon and Teresa when you remember that Tyler consistently posted pictures of Carly despite being asked not to.”

    The comment continued, “And we’ve all seen how Jenelle will advertise her only fans in one Instagram story and then post a picture of her kid in the next.” 

    Several others agreed that Brandon and Teresa Davis were smart for keeping Carly away from Catelynn and Tyler Baltierra.

    Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

    Amanda BlankenshipAmanda Blankenship
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  • Play on a club or travel team? Questions for teen athletes to consider

    What are you getting out of it?

    That’s the first question you should ask yourself if you’re a parent of a teenager who plays for a club or travel sports team and your kid wants to play that sport in college.

    You’re likely paying thousands of dollars per year. Maybe even $10,000. Or, in this case, more than $20,000 for a 13-year-old.

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