Instagram blocks 135K accounts for preying on kids

Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram rolled out new safety features for teens and kids – admitting that it was forced to block nearly 135,000 accounts earlier this year for predatory behavior.

Meta – which has faced heat from federal and state officials over its failure to protect kids – said on Wednesday its safety teams blocked the nearly 135,00 accounts “for leaving sexualized comments or requesting sexual images from adult-managed accounts featuring children under 13.”

“We also removed an additional 500,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts that were linked to those original accounts,” the company said in a blog post.

“We let people know that we’d removed an account that had interacted inappropriately with their content, encouraging them to be cautious and to block and report,” the post added.

Now, teen users will be given more information when unknown accounts send them direct messages – including details on when the account was created and tips on how to stay safe, the company said in a Wednesday blog post.

Teen accounts on Instagram also have an updated “block and report” feature, allowing users to immediately flag predatory accounts while blocking them, rather than having to do so separately.

In June alone, teen users blocked accounts one million times and reported an additional one million after being shown a safety notice, according to Instagram.

The social media giant has scrambled to reassure the public that Facebook and Instagram are safe.

As The Post reported, the problem recently surfaced during the FTC’s trial seeking a forced spinoff of Instagram and WhatsApp. The feds presented internal documents showing how Meta officials had panicked in past years about “groomers” targeting kids on Instagram.

Last year, Instagram began automatically placing users under age 18 into “teen accounts” and blocking people who do not follow them from viewing their content or interacting with them.

The company has also introduced features designed to automatically shield underage users from messages containing nude images.

Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of US senators reintroduced the Kids Online Safety Act, which would enact a legal “duty of care” on Meta and other social media firms to protect underage users from harm.

The legislation passed the Senate last year in an overwhelming 91-3 vote, but stalled in the House and was ultimately tabled.