"We're committed to ensuring [that] Facebook and Instagram are places for everyone, especially the youth," says Jocelyne Muhutu-Rémy, strategic media partnerships manager for Facebook in sub-Saharan Africa.

"That's why we offer a range of tools on our platforms to give people full control over their experience. [We] work with our partners to drive awareness about the practices, resources and tools people can use to protect their online wellbeing," concludes Muhutu-Rémy.

According to the platform, young people can benefit from the following Facebook and Instagram safety tools and resources:
  • The new tools on Instagram that filter comments that may be inappropriate, offensive or relating to bullying. These include keyword filtering, sensitivity screens, offensive comment and bullying filters.
  • The opportunity to edit the caption or comment before posting. Instagram has created new ways to help stop bullying before it happens with AI that detects content that is potentially offensive. The AI will send a prompt that the language used is similar to language that has been reported for bullying. 
  • The Instagram Safety Centre, which is a place where users can learn more about the safety features on Instagram.
  • The Youth Portal, which is a central place for teens to get a better understanding of Facebook's products, hear from other peers and get tips and advice on controlling their experience. This is part of the safety centre and a resource for topics like suicide prevention, social resolution and bullying prevention.
  • Artificial intelligence, which will help users to identify when someone might be expressing thoughts of suicide on Facebook Live and Instagram Live.
Facebook says that it has provided various resources about online safety easily available, including:
The partners that Facebook is working with this year include:
For more information, visit www.facebook.co.za.