Instagram unveiled safety tools for teens on Tuesday (December 7) to help mitigate the app's potential harm on young users, and perhaps users of all ages.

According to reports, a "Take A Break" feature was implemented the day of the announcement to help break the endless habit of scrolling through the app after a certain amount of time.

Another new feature will also be aware if a teen has been searching for content under certain topics –– like beauty –– and will encourage the user to explore other topics on the app.

One other safety feature prevents users from tagging or mentioning teens or kids who don't follow them back.

The new measures are not all restrictive, however, one of the measures gives teens more control over the content they share and if they want to delete a bunch of posts, they'll soon be able to do a bulk delete instead of taking posts down one-by-one.

"Every day I see the positive impact that Instagram has for young people everywhere," Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said in a blog post. "I'm proud that our platform is a place where teens can spend time with the people they care about, explore their interests, and explore who they are."

In a video, Mosseri commented on the new measures and what they mean for kids' safety.

"There's an important discussion happening right now about keeping young people safe online," he captioned the video. "I've been thinking a lot about how Instagram shows up, and I'm looking forward to sharing more of the work we're doing in the weeks ahead."

News of the new safety features comes just a day before the social media platforms' leaders are due back in front of a Senate committee.

Earlier this year, Meta, formerly known as Facebook, published a study about the harm its platform is doing to young people.

Brian Thomas

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