Instagram is tightening messaging and content restrictions for teenagers while limiting interactions to known accounts on the platform.
Teenagers above the age of 16 can relax some restrictions with a parent's permission
Photo Credit: Pexels/ Julia M Cameron
Instagram Teen Accounts were announced on Tuesday as the latest attempt to keep younger users safe on the Meta owned photo and video sharing platform. The new Teen Accounts include protections that are enabled by default and only users above the age of 16 will be able to reduce the degree of safety extended to their Instagram account. Parents or guardians will also see who has been messaging their teenagers over a seven-day period and set daily time limits or block the app from being used for a particular duration.
According to Meta, the new Teen Accounts for Instagram will be enabled by default for teenagers on the platform, forcing them to use private accounts. This means that users under 18 will have to manually approve each person who sends them a follower request.
Instagram will only allow teens to receive messages from people they are connected to or accounts that they already follow. Similarly, they can only be mentioned or tagged by an account they follow, while the Hidden Words feature will filter out the unwanted comments from comments and messages.
Parental controls for Instagram Teen Accounts
Photo Credit: Meta
Sensitive content restrictions — a feature available to all users on Instagram — will be set to the most restrictive setting, filtering out violent videos or ones that promote cosmetic procedures from the Explore and Reels sections, according to the company.
Sleep mode will be turned on by default between 10pm and 7am, muting notifications and messages. This is a feature that can also be enabled on any account on Instagram. Meanwhile, a reminder will be shown to teenagers after using the app for over an hour.
Parents can also opt to receive more insights into their teenagers' time spent on Instagram, via the supervision feature on the app. It will show who the younger users have messaged over the past week (this includes reactions and replies to stories and notes) without displaying the actual message content.
The service will also show parents an overview of the content topics chosen by a teenager on Instagram. Usage timers can also be set on the app, blocking access after a specified time limit. On the other hand, parents can also block Instagram use during a specific time period, according to the company.
The company says that teenagers in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US who sign up for Instagram will now be placed into Teen Accounts, while users under the age of 16 who already have an account will be moved into the new experience next week. Younger users in the EU will be switched to Teen Accounts later this year and other regions will follow in January 2025.
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