IG Introduces ‘Teen Accounts’ With Built-In Privacy Settings ‘To Better Support Parents’

Social media giant Meta announced on Tuesday that its platform Instagram will be instituting new privacy settings that are “built-in” for teenagers’ accounts.

After facing criticism for an apparent lack of safety surrounding minors’ Instagram accounts, Meta said the new “Teen Accounts” will protect young social media users while putting the parents in control. Teen Accounts will “limit who can contact them and the content they see” by keeping minors’ accounts private, meaning other Instagram users cannot see posts from or contact a Teen Account unless the teenager accepts their follow requests.

“We know parents want to feel confident that their teens can use social media to connect with their friends and explore their interests, without having to worry about unsafe or inappropriate experiences. We understand parents’ concerns, and that’s why we’re reimagining our apps for teens with new Teen Accounts,” Meta said in a statement. “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.”

Earlier this year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — along with the leaders of TikTok and X — testified before Congress on how his social media empire was addressing concerns from users and parents about privacy and the effects of social media on children. In one tense exchange during the hearing, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) asked if Zuckerberg wanted to apologize to the families of children who were victimized by people on social media.

“I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered,” he told some of the families who were in attendance.

Under Instagram’s new Teen Accounts, teens will be shielded from any messages from people they are not “already connected to,” according to Meta. Additionally, Teen Accounts will be limited in the type of content they see on Instagram as the app’s “sensitive content control” will further limit content that shows “people fighting” or content that “promotes cosmetic procedures.”

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Meta added that it will “automatically turn on the most restrictive version of our anti-bullying feature, Hidden Words, so that offensive words and phrases will be filtered out of teens’ comments and DM requests.” Teen users under 16 years old will now have to add a parent or guardian to their account if they want to change any of the built-in privacy settings.

Teen Accounts will include time limit reminders, telling young users to close out of the app after 60 minutes each day, and all notifications will be muted between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Meta said it will enforce this new change by requiring teens to “verify their age in more places.”

“Teens may lie about their age and that’s why we’re requiring them to verify their age in more places, like if they attempt to use a new account with an adult birthday. We’re also building technology to proactively find accounts belonging to teens, even if the account lists an adult birthday,” Meta said. “This technology will allow us to proactively find these teens and place them in the same protections offered by Teen Account settings. We’ll start testing this change in the US early next year.”