Take a break & nudge: Facebook-Instagram to launch features to keep kids away from harmful content

While Facebook has been introducing new features to Instagram, the photo-sharing site has been accused for negatively impacting teens' mental health.

As a result, in order to protect young minds from engaging with dangerous information on Instagram, Facebook has stated that a new "Take a Break" function would be added to Instagram shortly.

In an interview with CNN, Facebook's Vice President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, acknowledged this development.

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During the interview, CNN reporter Dana Bash questioned Clegg about comments made by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who testified before Congress that Instagram is harmful to children.

With the new 'take a break' and 'nudge' features, Facebook intends to identify whether a kid is viewing the same content often, and if that content "may not be beneficial to their well-being," it will encourage them to look at different stuff.

This would simply be a push, not a forced refresh of the feed, so it would still be up to the adolescent user to decide what material they want to see on Instagram.

There is no set date for the release of these features, but testing will begin soon.

(With inputs from agencies)