Today, we’re introducing 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 can see, while also giving teens new ways to explore their interests. We automatically place teens in Teen Accounts, and teens under 16 will need parental permission to change any of these settings to be less restrictive.

Reliving Teens’ Instagram Experiences

We know parents want to make sure their teens can use social media to connect with their friends and explore their interests, without worrying about unsafe or inappropriate experiences. We understand parents’ concerns, which is why we’re refreshing our teen apps with new Teen Accounts. 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, built 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.

Built-in protections to address parents’ biggest concerns

We built Teen Accounts with parents and teens in mind. The new Teen Account protections are designed to address parents’ top concerns, including who their teens are talking to online, what content they’re seeing, and whether their time is being spent wisely. These protections are automatically enabled, and parents decide whether teens under 16 can change any of these settings to be less restrictive:

• Private accounts:With standard private accounts, teens must accept new followers, and people who don’t follow them can’t see their content or interact with them.
• Message Restrictions:Teens are placed on the strictest messaging settings, so they can only receive messages from people they follow or are already connected to.
• Restrictions for sensitive content:Teenagers are automatically placed in the most restrictive environment of our control of sensitive contentwhich places restrictions on the kind of sensitive content (such as content featuring people fighting or promoting cosmetic surgery) that 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 enable the most restrictive version of our anti-bullying feature, Hidden Words, so offensive words and phrases are filtered out of teens’ comments and DM requests.
• Time limit reminders:Teens will receive a notification every day after 60 minutes to exit the app.
• Sleep mode enabled: Sleep mode is enabled between 10pm and 7am. This mutes notifications at night and sends automatic replies to private messages.

“As parents today grapple with the benefits and challenges of the internet and digital media for their teens, our association applauds Meta for launching Instagram Teen Accounts. With teens automatically placed into Teen Accounts and certain privacy settings enabled by default, this update shows that Meta is taking steps to empower parents and provide 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 parental permission to use less protective settings. To get permission, teens need to set up parental controls on Instagram. If parents want more oversight over their older teen’s (16+) experiences, they simply need to enable parental controls. They can then approve any changes to these settings, regardless of their teen’s age.

Once supervision is set up, parents can approve or deny requests from their teens to change settings or allow teens to manage their settings themselves. Soon, parents will also be able to change these settings directly to provide more protection. Learn more about How do you manage teenage accounts?.

“Instagram Teen Accounts reflect the importance of tailoring teens’ online experiences to their developmental stages and implementing appropriate protections. Younger adolescents are more vulnerable because their skills are still developing and require additional protections and safeguards. In general, settings are age-specific, with younger and older teens receiving different protections.”

– Rachel Rodgers, PhD, associate professor of applied psychology, Northeastern University

More ways for parents to get involved, if they want

While Teen Accounts automatically offer new protections, many parents want to be even more involved in their teens’ experiences. That’s why we’re expanding our supervisory function. Updates include ways to:

• Gain insight into who their teens are chatting withParents can’t read their teen’s messages, but they can now see who their teen has messaged in the last seven days.
• Set Total Daily Time Limits for Teens’ Instagram Usage: Parents can determine how much time their teen can spend on Instagram per day. Once a teen reaches that limit, they can no longer use the app.
• Block teens from using Instagram for specific time periodsParents can prevent their teens from using Instagram in the evening or at certain times with one simple button.
• Check out the topics your teen is watching: Parents can view the age-appropriate topics their teen wants to watch based on his or her interests.

How We Enforce Teen Accounts

Teenagers can lie about their age and that’s why we demand that they verify their age in more places, like when they try to use a new account with an adult birthday. We’re also building technology to proactively find teen accounts, even if the account lists an adult birthday. This technology will allow us to proactively find these teens and put them in the same protections provided by the Teen Accounts settings. We’ll be testing this change in the US early next year. You can read more about the details here here.

Ensuring that teens see age-appropriate content

We recognize that parents are concerned about their teens seeing mature or inappropriate content online. That’s why we have stricter rules about the types of content teens see on our apps. We remove content that violates our rules and avoid recommending potentially sensitive content, like sexually suggestive content or content that discusses suicide or self-harm. Instagram Teen Accounts puts teens in the strictest setting of our sensitive content review, making them even less likely to be recommended sensitive contentand in many cases we have hide this content completely from teenagers, even if it is shared by someone they follow.

“It’s important that safety and privacy protections are the default settings, both to improve teens’ online experiences and to reduce some of the burden placed on parents. We look forward to hearing from teens about their experiences with these new Teen Accounts and related features and settings.”

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

When to expect these changes

Today, we’re moving teens who sign up for Instagram into teen accounts. We’re notifying teens who are already using Instagram about these changes so we can move them into teen accounts next week.

We plan to put teens on Teen Accounts in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia within 60 days, and on Teen Accounts in the European Union later this year. Teens around the world will start getting Teen Accounts in January. We’ll be bringing Teen Accounts to other Meta platforms next year as well. These are big updates that will change the Instagram experience for millions of teens, and we need to make sure they work correctly.

“These updates to Instagram’s Teen Accounts provide a balanced approach, providing essential parental oversight while respecting teens’ right to engage and explore. In an ever-changing online world, this update ensures young people can engage in meaningful and safe ways, fostering positive connections while still providing the protections they need.”

– Lucy Thomas OAM, CEO and Co-Founder, Project Rockit