Credit: kovop via Shutterstock Meta is adding new features to Instagram’s School Partnership Program in the US, allowing schools and verified high school students to share news about clubs, sports teams, and events, the company announced. The update arrives a month after Meta’s settlement with US states over claims that it designed Instagram and Facebook to addict children. Under that agreement, made with 52 attorneys general, Meta will pay up to $18bn over 10 years and add daily time limits for teens. The school program itself started last year with the education groups ISTE and ASCD.
Its first job was to let educators report bullying and other safety problems straight to Instagram, and nearly 17,000 schools have now signed up, Meta said. Partner schools now get Channels, where only administrators can post updates for followers such as parents and the local community. They can also publish School Stories and Notes, which only verified students at that school can see. Students, in turn, can find a directory of clubs and teams, for example, a maths club, that serves as a hub for events and announcements.
Posting to those Stories and Notes is limited to club and team admins and the school’s program admins. Verified students can also browse a list of classmates on Instagram and add a school banner to their profile. Meta said only fellow students and teen followers the student has followed back can see them. Before any of this, students must be verified by UNiDAYS, a third-party student verification service.
Parents who use Meta’s Family Center then receive a notification whenever their teen joins or leaves a school. School staff keep control of the content, as administrators and educators can remove club and team accounts, Stories, and Notes. Reports filed by partner schools also go to the front of Instagram’s review queue, and schools hear back once action is taken. Meta said the tools are built for use outside lesson time.
Parents can already block Instagram during school hours through Teen Accounts settings, the company added. Middle and high schools in the US can join through the “Account type and tools” or “Business tools and controls” menus in Instagram, following Meta’s sign-up instructions. Also tagged with
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