Safer Internet Day: Instagram launches 'Parent's guide' in India to educate parents, young users about its safety features

Instagram launches a new ‘Parent’s Guide’ for India. The guide was launched ahead of the Safer Internet Day, aligned with the global theme of 2021 – ‘Together For a Better Internet’. It is aimed to help young people be safe. It additionally informs parents about the safety features that exist on the platform. It will be available across many countries that would provide parents with a better understanding of the changing digital landscape. According to Instagram, the guide would act as a conversation starter between parents and children, offering tools that exist to keep their children safe on the platform. [caption id=“attachment_9282111” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] It will be available across many countries that would provide parents with a better understanding of the changing digital landscape.[/caption] The new 2021 Guide has inputs from key organisations that work actively on the rights and safety of children, which include Cyber Peace Foundation, Center for Social Research, Young Leaders for Activity Citizenship, Aarambh India Initiative, Suicide Prevention India Foundation and It’s Ok To Talk. The Guide takes into account features like ‘DM reachability controls’ that give business accounts and creators the control to choose who could add them to groups on Instagram Direct or message them. It also gets ‘bulk comment management’ that gives people the option to delete bulk comments and block or restrict multiple accounts for negative comments. It comes with other features too like Emails from Instagram and Support Requests. Commenting on the Guide, Dr Rajana Kumari, Director of the Center for Social Research, said on how children live a very active life online today for which parents need to update themselves in ways they can actually be of help to their children. Instagram had partnered with Yuvaa last year, which happens to be a youth media, community engagement, and insights company that launched an initiative called ‘#366daysofkindness". This platform engaged youngsters via workshops with key influencers and psychologists on nurturing a safer online environment.