Meta expands Instagram school safety program: What to know

On Tuesday, Meta said that it is adding new features to Instagram's school partnership program in the US-a significant move to expand tools for schools and students as the social media company seeks to protect teens online.

Regarding the new announcement, Meta said nearly 17,000 schools have joined the program and the company is creating a new unified core for school-related accounts.

The primary motive behind this move is the rising accountability regarding platform externalities on young users.

Earlier in August, Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion over the next decade and impose stringent controls on teenagers' use of Facebook and Instagram to address lawsuits claiming the platforms were engineered to cause youth dependency.

In this connection, Meta said only verified students at schools will participate in the program to gain access to new features including notes and crucial stories for announcements.

In addition, the company is also introducing new Channels and Notes to promote better communication with parents, schools and the wider community.