Meta Platforms (META) is adding new alerts to its Instagram social media platform as the company remains embroiled in multiple legal trials concerning teen suicide.
Meta announced that it will now alert parents when their teenage children repeatedly search for suicide and self-harm terms on Instagram.
“These alerts are designed to make sure parents are aware if their teen is repeatedly trying to search for this content, and to give them the resources they need to support their teen,” said the technology giant in a news release.
The new parental alerts arrive as Meta Platforms, which also owns Facebook, faces allegations that the design and functionality of its social media apps harm the mental health of teens.
Experts are describing the trials facing Meta, as well as Alphabet’s (GOOGL) YouTube and Snapchat (SNAP), as social media’s “big tobacco” moment.
The courts are trying to determine the alleged harms of social media platforms and the efforts of companies such as Meta to mislead the public about those harmful impacts.
Meta says the new Instagram alerts will be launched within the next week in the U.S., United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
The alerts will be delivered to parents via email, texts, WhatsApp, or within Instagram.
The alerts require that both parents and teenagers enroll in Instagram’s new parental supervision tools.
In its news release, Meta Platforms called the parent alerts “the right starting point.”
META stock has declined 3% over the last 12 months to trade at $653.69 U.S. per share.
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