Meta has introduced Instagram Teen Accounts, a new feature designed to enhance teenage users’ safety and give parents greater control over their children’s online experiences. 

The company is implementing seven built-in protections that will be automatically applied to accounts belonging to users under 16 years old.

The new safeguards include:

1. Private accounts: By default, teens must approve new followers and interactions with non-followers are limited.
2. Messaging restrictions: allow communication only with followers or existing connections.
3. Sensitive content restrictions: limit exposure to potentially inappropriate material in Explore and Reels.
4. Limited interactions: preventing tagging or mentions by non-followers and activating anti-bullying filters.
5. Time limit reminders: after 60 minutes of daily use.
6. Sleep mode: muting notifications between 10 PM and 7 AM.

Meta reports that these measures address parents’ primary concerns regarding online interactions, content exposure, and time management. The company states that teens under 16 need parental permission to modify these settings, facilitated through the platform’s parental supervision features.

Additional updates to parental supervision tools include insights into teens’ messaging activities, the ability to set daily time limits, and options to block app usage during specific periods.

The Importance of Extra Security

To enforce age restrictions, Meta announces plans to develop technology for proactively identifying accounts belonging to teens, even when adult birthdays are listed. Testing of this technology is scheduled to begin in the U.S. early next year.

The rollout of Teen Accounts is set to occur over the next 60 days in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia. Plans are to expand to the European Union later this year and globally in January. Meta indicates intentions to extend Teen Accounts to other platforms within its ecosystem next year.

“Instagram Teen Accounts reflect the importance of tailoring teens’ online experiences to their developmental stages and implementing appropriate protections,” said Rachel Rodgers, PhD Associate Professor of Applied Psychology, Northeastern University, in a blog post.

“It’s important that safety and privacy protections are the default settings, both to improve teens’ online experience and to reduce some of the burden that has fallen to parents,” added Dr. Megan Moreno of the AAP Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health.

Concerns for Teens on Social Media

The Teen Account initiative represents Meta’s response to ongoing discussions about social media’s impact on youth.

Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok joined forces this week in the new Thrive Initiative to combat the spread of suicide and self-harm content across their platforms. 

Both initiatives come as mental health experts warn that social media may pose a profound risk to teen well-being.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recently called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms due to their potential mental health impacts on young people.

In addition to Meta, YouTube has also implemented measures to limit teenagers’ exposure to certain content related to weight, fitness, and physical appearance.