Today we’re launching Instagram Teen Accounts, a new parent-led experience for teens. Teen Accounts have built-in protections that limit who can contact them and what content they see, plus they offer teens new ways to explore their interests. We automatically assign teens to Teen Accounts, and teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to make these settings less restrictive.

Reinterpreting teenagers’ experiences on Instagram

We know parents want to feel confident that their teens can use social media to stay connected with their friends and explore their interests without worrying about unsafe or inappropriate experiences. We understand parents’ concerns, so we’re redesigning our apps for teens with new Teen Accounts. This new experience is designed to better support parents and give them peace of mind that their teens are safe and have the right protections in place. Teens will also have access to a new feature designed just for them that lets them choose topics they want to see more of in Explore and their recommendations, so they can focus on the fun, positive content they love.

Built-in protection to address parents’ biggest concerns

We designed Teen Accounts for parents and teens. The new Teen Account protections address parents’ biggest concerns, like who their teens are communicating with online, what content they’re seeing, and whether they’re using their time wisely. These protections are turned on automatically, and parents can decide whether teens under 16 can change these settings to be less restrictive:

• Private accounts: Standard private accounts require teens to accept new followers, and people who don’t follow them can’t see or interact with their content.
• Restrictions on message transmission: Teens have the strictest messaging settings, so they can only receive messages from people they follow or are already connected with.
• Restrictions on confidential content: Young people are automatically placed in the most restrictive environment of our Control of sensitive contentthat limits the type of sensitive content (such as content that shows people fighting or promotes cosmetic procedures) that teens see on sites like Explore and Reels.
• Limited interactions: Teens can only be tagged or mentioned by the people they follow. We also automatically enable the most restrictive version of our anti-bullying feature, Hidden Words, so offensive words and phrases are filtered out of teens’ comments and DMs.
• Time limit reminders: Teens receive a notification every 60 minutes asking them to leave the app.
• Sleep mode activated: Between 10pm and 7am, Quiet Mode is activated, muting notifications overnight and sending automatic replies to DMs.

“As parents today grapple with the benefits and challenges of the internet and digital media for their teens, our association applauds Meta for introducing Instagram Teen Accounts. With teens automatically placed in Teen Accounts and certain privacy settings enabled by default, this update shows that Meta is taking steps to empower parents and enable safer, more age-appropriate experiences on the platform.”

– Yvonne Johnson, President, National PTA

How to approve changes to a teen’s settings

Teens under 16 need their parents’ permission to use less protective settings. To get permission, teens must set up parental supervision on Instagram. If parents want more control over their older teens’ (16+) experiences, all they need to do is turn on parental supervision, and then they can approve any changes to those settings, regardless of their teen’s age.

Once supervision is set up, parents can approve or deny their teens’ requests to change settings, or allow them to manage their settings themselves. Soon, parents will also be able to change these settings directly for better protection. Learn more about How to manage teen accounts.

“Instagram accounts for teens demonstrate the importance of tailoring teens’ online experiences to their developmental stages and putting appropriate safeguards in place. Younger teens are more vulnerable as their skills are still developing and require additional safeguards and protection. Overall, settings are age-specific, with different safeguards offered to younger and older teens.”

– Rachel Rodgers, PhD Associate Professor of Applied Psychology, Northeastern University

More opportunities for parents to get involved if they want to

While Teen Accounts automatically introduce new protections, many parents want to be even more involved in their teens’ experiences. That’s why we’re also expanding our Monitoring function. The updates include options for:

• Get insights into who your teens are chatting with: While parents can’t read their teens’ messages, they can now see who their teens have messaged in the past seven days.
• Set daily total time limits for teens’ Instagram usage: Parents can decide how much time their teen can spend on Instagram each day. Once a teen reaches this limit, they will no longer be able to access the app.
• Block teenagers from using Instagram for specific periods of time: Parents can use a simple button to restrict their teens from using Instagram at night or during certain hours.
• Check out the topics your teen is interested in: Parents can view the age-appropriate topics their teen has selected content on based on their child’s interests.

How we protect accounts for teenagers

Young people often lie about their age and that is why we ask them to confirm their age in more places, such as when they try to use a new account with an adult birthday. We’re also developing technology to proactively find teen accounts, even if the account has an adult birthday listed. This technology will allow us to proactively find those teens and give them the same protections that teen account settings provide. We’ll start testing this change in the U.S. early next year. You can find more details here Here.

How to make sure teens see age-appropriate content

We know parents are concerned about their teens seeing adult or inappropriate content online, so we have stricter rules about the type of content teens see on our apps. We remove content that violates our rules and avoid recommending potentially sensitive content — like sexually explicit content or content that discusses suicide or self-harm. With Instagram Teen Accounts, teens are placed in the strictest settings of our sensitive content controls, making them even less likely to be recommended. sensitive contentand in many cases hide this content completely by teenagers, even if it is shared by someone they follow.

“It’s important that safety and privacy are the default settings to both improve teens’ online experience and reduce the burden on parents. We look forward to hearing from teens about how they use these new Teen Accounts and the features and settings they bring.”

– Dr. Megan Moreno, co-medical director of the SAMHSA-funded AAP Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health

When can we expect these changes?

We’re starting to move teens who log into Instagram into Teen Accounts today. And we’re notifying teens who already use Instagram about these changes so we can start transitioning to Teen Accounts next week.

We plan to roll out Teen Accounts to teens in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia within 60 days, and start rolling them out in the European Union later this year. Teens around the world will get Teen Accounts starting in January. Next year, we’ll roll out Teen Accounts to other meta platforms as well. These are big updates that will change the Instagram experience for millions of teens, and we need to make sure they work right.

“These updates to Instagram teen accounts offer a balanced approach that gives parents the control they need while respecting teens’ rights to participate and discover. In an ever-evolving online world, this update ensures young people can engage meaningfully and safely, building positive connections while providing them with the protection they need.”

– Lucy Thomas OAM, CEO and co-founder of Project Rockit