Can We Keep Teens Safe on Social Media? What Every Parent Needs to Know from Meta :: Tara Hopkins [Ep 526]

Don't Mom Alone Podcast

Kids & Family, Leisure, Parenting, Education

5 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, I sit down with Meta’s Global Director of Public Policy, who also happens to be a mom of two teenagers, to discuss the realities of raising kids in a digital-first world. There is a lot that goes into ensuring our teens are safe online, and Tara explains how Instagram is becoming a leader in this arena. Whether you’re worried about screen time, inappropriate content, or online bullying, this conversation is packed with insight and practical help. Here are some topics we cover:

How Meta uses cutting-edge technology for age verification
The three biggest concerns parents have about social media- who can contact their teen on Instagram, whether the content their teen sees is age-appropriate, and how much time their teen is spending on social media
Encouraging open conversations when your teen sees (or does) something online they shouldn’t

Connect with Tara Hopkins:

Instagram: Tara Hopkins

Links Mentioned:

Meta Family Center

Related Episodes:

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, y'all, welcome back to the Don't Mom Alone podcast.
0:10.5	I'm your host, Heather McFadion, and this is the place where I get to walk alongside you and connect you with people and resources so you know that you don't mom alone.
0:19.4	And in this episode number 526, I'm welcoming to the show, Tara Hopkins.
0:25.8	We really wanted to understand kind of globally where parents were concerned.
0:30.9	And was there a trend?
0:32.3	We're the same things coming up over and over again.
0:34.8	So the three things that we heard, and I'm sure this will resonate
0:38.4	with your listeners, one is who can contact my team when they're using Instagram? I think
0:44.4	it's every parent's concern is if my teen is on their phone, who is able to get in touch with them?
0:50.1	The second one was about the content that they see. Is the content that they're seeing appropriate for their age?
0:56.8	And are they coming across things that they shouldn't be coming across,
0:59.3	particularly from an age-cash grouping?
1:02.0	And then the third thing was the amount of time they were spending on social media.
1:08.0	Tara is a mom of two teenagers.
1:10.6	She's also the global director of public policy for
1:14.4	meta. And if you don't know what meta is, it is the multinational company, technology company
1:20.5	that owns and operates several social media platforms that you may be familiar with and use
1:26.9	every day, like Facebook,
1:28.2	Instagram, threads, Messenger, and WhatsApp. And today, she and I are going to talk about specifically
1:34.2	their new teen accounts when we talk a lot about how it impacts Instagram. And I just really
1:42.9	didn't even know. One, how do they verify age and make sure a child
1:47.8	is being honest about their age? Because you could easily say you're not a teenager and get around
	...

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