Technologies

Your Teen’s Instagram Account Protections Are Coming to Facebook and Messenger

Instagram has already moved 54 million kids into Teen Accounts. And there’s more to come.

Worried about what your kids might be up to on social media? If so, Meta’s continued crackdown on teen safety might come as a relief. The company announced Tuesday that, starting immediately, it’s expanding its Instagram Teen Accounts to other platforms, specifically, Facebook and Messenger.

It also announced additional built-in protections for Instagram Teen Accounts. These will prevent children under the age of 16 from going live on the platform or turning off blurred images, which protect against suspected nudity in direct messages, without parental permission.

Meta first launched Instagram Teen Accounts back in September 2024, in a bid to make the platform a safer place for kids and provide more oversight and supervision options for parents. In an update on Tuesday, the company said it had switched 54 million accounts to become Teen Accounts so far, with more to go. The accounts offer built-in protections, including being set to private by default and a hidden words feature, which will automatically filter out problematic comments and DM requests.

With parental agreement, some of these features can be switched off, but Meta said that so far 97% of teens aged between 13 and 15 had kept the default safeguards in place. In a Meta-commissioned survey undertaken by Ipsos, the company said that 94% of parents found the protections helpful, with 85% saying it made it easier to have positive experiences on Instagram. The company didn’t say how many parents it surveyed, or where they were situated.

Child safety: Who is responsible?

Children’s safety campaigners have been asking social media companies for years to make their platforms safer for kids, and while progress has been slow, Meta’s recognition that teens need different protections than adults to the extent that they require a different kind of account has been an important breakthrough. Other platforms have followed suit, with TikTok introducing new parental controls last month.

But at the same time as introducing teen accounts, Meta has come under fire for rolling back safety protections elsewhere on its platforms. Just this week, the company has ceased its fact-checking program and more broadly it’s also scanning for harmful content in order to promote more free speech.

«In recent months, it has been deeply concerning to see Meta roll back on their duty to protect children,» said Matthew Sowemimo, associate head of policy for child safety online at UK children’s charity the NSPCC over email. «While their move to expand these safety features to both Facebook and Messenger is welcome, more work must be done to ensure children have positive experiences online — including on both private and public parts of these platforms.»

For the changes brought about by the introduction of teen accounts to be most effective, they should be combined with proactive measures to reduce harmful content across Meta’s platforms, Sowemimo added. «While safety settings play an important role in preventing online harm, we know changes to account settings can result in accountability falling onto children and parents to keep themselves safe online,» he said.

Technologies

Kia Is Bringing an Electric Truck to the US: What We Know So Far

Kia is joining the EV pickup segment. Here’s everything you need to know right now.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 19, #1400

Here are hints — and the answer — for today’s Wordle No. 1,400 for April 19.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

One of the letters in today’s Wordle puzzle almost never appears in answers — or the English language, for that matter. If that’s not enough of a hint, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. (Look down at the bottom to find this particular letter.) If you need more hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

There are two vowels in today’s Wordle answer.

Wordle hint No. 3: Start letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with I.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends in one of the rarest letters in the alphabet. See our list for a full ranking.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a place where emails are received and stored.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is INBOX.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, April 18, No. 1399 was DIRGE.

Recent Wordle answers

April 14, No. 1395: CREST

April 15, No. 1396: ASHEN

April 16, No. 1397: MORAL

April 17, No. 1398: STOOD

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 19, #208

Hints and answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 208, for April 19.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Isn’t the purple category in Connections: Sports Edition supposed to be the hardest? Today, I thought it was the easiest — but then I love old stadiums and tend to remember their names. If you do too, you’ll ace at least one grouping today. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Rocky’s stock in trade.

Green group hint: Get those three points.

Blue group hint: Boston hoops stars.

Purple group hint: There used to be a ballpark, as Sinatra sang.