Meta has introduced an Instagram Teen Account on its popular social media networking app.

It says that Teen Accounts will have built-in protection, which limit who can contact them and the content they see, plus will  provide new ways for teens to explore their interests.

“We’ll automatically place teens into Teen Accounts, and teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to change any of these settings to be less strict.”

The company says in a blog post that it wants parents to feel confident that their teens can use social media to connect with their friends and explore their interests, without having to worry about unsafe or inappropriate experiences.

“This new experience is designed to better support parents, and give them peace of mind that their teens are safe with the right protections in place. Teens will also get access to a new feature, made just for them, that lets them select topics they want to see more of in Explore and their recommendations so they can focus on the fun, positive content they love.”

Addressing Parents’ Top Concerns

The following protections will be turned on automatically for TeenAccounts, and parents can decide if teens under 16 can change any of these settings to be less strict:

  • Private accounts: With default private accounts, teens need to accept new followers and people who don’t follow them can’t see their content or interact with them. This applies to all teens under 16 (including those already on Instagram and those signing up) and teens under 18 when they sign up for the app. (Updated on September 17 at 11:18 AM PT to clarify how private accounts are applied)
  • Messaging restrictions: Teens will be placed in the strictest messaging settings, so they can only be messaged by people they follow or are already connected to.
  • Sensitive content restrictions: Teens will automatically be placed into the most restrictive setting of our sensitive content control, which limits the type of sensitive content (such as content that shows people fighting or promotes cosmetic procedures) teens see in places like Explore and Reels.
  • Limited interactions: Teens can only be tagged or mentioned by people they follow. We’ll also automatically turn on the most restrictive version of our anti-bullying feature, Hidden Words, so that offensive words and phrases will be filtered out of teens’ comments and DM requests.
  • Time limit reminders: Teens will get notifications telling them to leave the app after 60 minutes each day.
  • Sleep mode enabled: Sleep mode will be turned on between 10 PM and 7 AM, which will mute notifications overnight and send auto-replies to DMs.

How To Approve Changes To a Teen’s Settings

Teenagers under 16 will need their parent’s permission to use less protective settings. To get permission, teens will need to set up parental supervision on Instagram. If parents want more oversight over their older teen’s (16+) experiences, they simply have to turn on parental supervision. Then, they can approve any changes to these settings, irrespective of their teen’s age.

Once supervision is established, parents can approve and deny their teens’ requests to change settings or allow teens to manage their settings themselves. Soon, parents will also be able to change these settings directly to be more protective.

More Ways for Parents To Get Involved, If They Want

While Teen Accounts put new protections in place automatically, many parents want to be even more involved in their teen’s experiences, so Meta has added to its supervision features.

Updates include ways to:

  • Get insights into who their teens are chatting with: While parents can’t read their teen’s messages, now they will be able to see who their teen has messaged in the past seven days.
  • Set total daily time limits for teens’ Instagram usage: Parents can decide how much time their teen can spend on Instagram each day. Once a teen hits that limit, they’ll no longer be able to access the app.
  • Block teens from using Instagram for specific time periods: Parents can choose to block their teens from using Instagram at night, or specific time periods, with one easy button.
  • See topics your teen is looking at: Parents can view the age-appropriate topics their teen has chosen to see content from, based on their interests.

For more info, visit: https://about.fb.com/news/2024/09/instagram-teen-accounts/