Instagram parent company Meta has revealed the introduction of Instagram Teen Accounts, a new experience for teens, guided by parents.
The social media platform reports Teen Accounts have built-in protections that limit who can contact them and the content they see, and also provide new ways for teens to explore their interests. Teens will automatically be placed into Teen Accounts, and teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to change any of these settings to be less strict.
Instagram Teen Accounts Takeaways
• Instagram Teen Accounts are to reassure parents that teens are having safe experiences with built-in protections on automatically.
• Teen Accounts will limit who can contact teens and the content they see.
• Teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to change any of the built-in protections to be less strict within Teen Accounts.
Reimagining teens’ experiences on Instagram
The 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 positive content.
Built-in protections to address parents’ top concerns
The new Teen Account protections are designed to address parents’ biggest concerns, including who their teens are talking to online, the content they’re seeing and whether their time is being well spent. These protections are turned on automatically, and parents 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.
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
Teens 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. Learn more about how to manage Teen Accounts.
When to expect these changes
Teens who sign up for Instagram from today will be placed into Teen Accounts. Teens already using Instagram will be notified about the changes ahead of being moved into Teen Accounts next week.
In the US, UK, Canada and Australia teens will be moved into Teen Accounts within 60 days. In the European Union later this year. Teens around the world will start to get Teen Accounts in January.
Teen Accounts will be introduced to other Meta platforms next year.
Meta noted these are big updates that will change the Instagram experience for millions of teens.