Recent Strengthening of Instagram Account Protection Measures
Former girl group Crayon Pop member Soyul expressed her frustration after her daughter's social media account was suspended. Since then, recent posts on online communities such as 'Mom Cafes' have shared experiences of children and parenting accounts being deactivated on Instagram without any known reason.
Earlier, on the 19th, Soyul wrote on her social media, "Our Jamjam's SNS was suddenly deactivated last night." Currently, when accessing Jamjam's Instagram link, the message "The link you clicked is broken or the page has been deleted" appears. Soyul lamented, "All the beautiful photos, drawings, videos, and pictures that fans kindly made are all gone. I am really so upset." Fans responded, saying, "It's a shame Jamjam can't see the photos anymore."
In addition, accounts of children managed by famous influencers and ordinary people were deactivated without warning. This seems to have occurred due to changes in Instagram's internal policies. Until recently, many parenting accounts created by parents sharing childcare photos gained popularity, but with recent measures to strengthen the protection of minors, a significant number of accounts posting children's photos were suddenly suspended.
Instagram, operated by Meta, is a social networking service (SNS) that only allows users aged 14 and older to sign up. According to Instagram's official guidelines, accounts representing children under 14 must clearly state in their profile that the account is managed by a parent or guardian. Instagram also added that if an account is deactivated, users can request a review within 180 days to determine whether the account can be reactivated.
In response, users advised that if a baby’s photo is set as the profile picture, it is better to change it first to a family photo or an adult photo such as the mother or father, clearly indicate in the username and bio that the account is managed by a parent, and delete content related to the child. There was also advice to stop any commercial activities involving children. It was noted that even hashtags or descriptions mentioning sponsorships or baby modeling could cause issues.
Meta has announced plans to expand the ‘Teen Account’ feature, currently available to teenagers using Instagram in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, to countries worldwide including South Korea starting January next year. This account can limit exposure to sensitive content for teenagers. Additionally, through the ‘Parent Supervision Tool,’ parents can restrict their children's smartphone usage between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
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