Instagram's Response to Safety Concerns: 'Teen Accounts'

In response to growing concerns about teens' safety and privacy on social networks, Instagram has launched “Teen Accounts,” which include built-in protections that limit who can communicate with them and the content they can access. By granting parents greater control over settings and supervision within the platform, Instagram aims to strike a balance between ensuring safety and preserving teens' ability to explore the platform, according to a Meta press release. 

In January, CEOs from Meta, X, TikTok, and other social media companies faced intense scrutiny over their platforms' handling of teens safety. Critics accused the executives of not doing enough to protect teenagers from dangers like sexual exploitation and bullying, citing increased incidents of online abuse and financial sextortion. Senators, including Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham, expressed poignant frustration over the companies' profit-driven designs and inadequate safety measures.

“Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us—I know you do not mean it to be so—but you have blood on your hands,” Senator Graham told Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram. “You have a product that is killing people.”

Teen Accounts will be enabled automatically for all young users who sign up for Instagram, and will be retroactively applied to teens under the age of sixteen who already on the platform. From now on, teens will need parental consent to adjust any settings that make their account less restrictive.

Key features of this initiative include:

• Private Accounts: Teenagers’ accounts will be private by default, meaning teens must manually accept new followers. This will prevent people who do not follow them from viewing their content.

• Messaging Restrictions: Teens will only be able to receive messages from people they already follow or are connected to. This stricter messaging setting is designed to protect teens from unwanted interactions.

• Sensitive Content Restrictions: This default setting limits access to sensitive content, such as images of fights or cosmetic procedures, in sections such as Explore and Reels, to protect minors from exposure to material that could be distressing or unsafe.

• Limited Interactions: Teens may only be tagged or mentioned by users who follow them. In addition, the offensive words filter feature will be automatically activated to prevent exposure to inappropriate content in comments and direct messages.

• Time Limit Reminders: Teens will receive notifications to log out of the app after 60 minutes of daily use, encouraging healthier social network use.

• Suspend Mode Enabled: Between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., notifications will be muted and automatic replies will be sent to direct messages, reducing disturbances and limiting unhealthy late-night use.

To bypass Instagram’s automatic restrictions of Teen Accounts, teens under the age of 16 will need parental permission and will be required to set up parental monitoring. 

In contrast, for parents interested in being more involved in their teens' experiences, Instagram is expanding its monitoring feature with some added capabilities:

• Information on Who Your Children Chat With: While parents cannot read their teenagers' messages, they will now be able to see who they have sent messages to in the last seven days.

• Daily Time Limits: Parents can set a total daily limit for their teen's Instagram use. Once that limit is reached, the teen will no longer have access to the app.

• Blocking at Specific Periods: Parents can block access to Instagram overnight or at specific time periods with a single button.

• Topics Your Teens View: Parents will be able to monitor age-appropriate topics their teens have chosen to explore based on their interests.

Parents who want greater control over their teen’s experiences on Instagram can enable parental supervision for teens aged 16 to 18, allowing them to approve or reject any setting change requests. While teens over 16 may have more autonomy, parents can still exercise oversight if desired. In the future, parents will be able to directly modify these settings to provide additional protection.

These changes have been met with praise from field experts and institutions dedicated to promoting and ensuring young people's safety and well-being. Yvonne Johnson, President of the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), commended the initiative, noting that the automatic implementation of default protections demonstrates a commitment by Meta to teen online safety and parental empowerment.

Rachel Rodgers, PhD and Associate Professor of Applied Psychology at Northeastern University, noted that the new settings are tailored to the developmental stages of teens, providing additional protections for younger teens and differentiated protections for older adolescents.

Lucy Thomas OAM, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Project Rockit, stated that the updates reflect a balanced approach that allows parents to exercise essential oversight without compromising teens' right to engage and explore online. “These updates to Instagram teen accounts offer a balanced approach, allowing parents to exercise essential supervision while respecting teens' right to engage and explore,” Thomas said. 

Meta will implement “Teen Accounts” in several stages, starting with the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia over the next 60 days. Following this initial stage, it plans to expand to the European Union and other regions over the next year. These updates will also be integrated into other Meta platforms in the future.

In addition, Instagram is developing technology to proactively detect accounts that may be using incorrect birth dates to access the platform. This technology aims to ensure that all young users benefit from the protections designed for them, regardless of the accuracy of their registration information.