Meta Announces Teen Instagram Accounts to Create Age-Appropriate Experience

(WIFR) – Starting September 17, Instagram is rolling out teen accounts on Instagram, hoping to keep teens safe and give parents peace of mind.

Meta explains that the decision to create these restrictions for teenagers is the result of advice from experts, teenagers, families and parents. Meta’s goal is to address three main concerns: unwanted contact, inappropriate content and time management.

“We really hope that teens will have safe, age-appropriate experiences on our services and that parents will feel supported in their ability to guide their teens online,” said Kate Ross, Meta’s head of public policy.

Teens’ accounts will be automatically private, so no one will be able to follow or message them without their permission. A 60-minute timer will tell teens when to leave the app, and an automatic “sleep time” from 10 p.m. to 7 p.m. during which notifications will be turned off. Inappropriate content will also be automatically blocked.

There are parental controls that teens can opt into, giving parents access to their messages, the topics of the content they view, who they’ve blocked, and how much time they spend on the app.

To encourage adolescents to accept parental supervision, it must be put in place to change the default settings, in particular by making them less strict.

Teens over 16 can change the default settings, but parents can choose to keep the settings the same.

“The 13-17 age range is a very broad one for teenagers. At 13, you have different challenges and needs than a 17-year-old,” Ross says.

As these changes begin to affect teen accounts, Meta says it has put a system in place to see if profiles are changing their age or creating new accounts to cheat the system.

Meta also says it is investing in ways to verify the age of users who lied about their age when creating their account.

“This is an industry-wide issue where we need more information and more assurances around age, so we’re working to make sure we’re leading in this area,” Ross says. “It’s really important and I think we need to continue to invest in making sure we’re doing the right thing.”