Instagram has officially launched its new Teen Accounts feature, marking one of Meta's biggest efforts to date to bolster safety for its youngest users online.

The new accounts, automatically assigned to any new users under the age of 18, place limits on what users can see, who can message and interact with them, and enable parents to exercise more control over their teens' social media use.

Meta promised the rollout of additional safety features earlier this year after it came under fire in both the United States and Europe over allegations that its apps are addictive and have fueled a youth mental health crisis.

In October, more than 40 states filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that the social media company profited from the advertising revenue gained by intentionally designing features on Instagram and Facebook to maximize the time teens and children spent on the platforms.

Meta said in a statement at the time that it shares the “commitment to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online," adding, “We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path."

Now, users will start to see some of the promised changes.

What is an Instagram Teen Account?

Every new Instagram user under the age of 18 will automatically be signed up for a Teen Account, which regulates how they view and interact with the app and gives parents specific controls over their teen's experience on the app.

These accounts come with unique features designed to limit teen activity on the app, including messaging and inappropriate content restrictions, automatic private accounts and time limits set by parents.

The accounts can be changed to have less strict settings, but teens under 16 will need their parent's permission to make this change.

"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," Instagram said in a press release. "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."

The content that's viewable via the Teen Account is filtered by the most stringent settings, hiding content classified as "sensitive" even when shared by someone they follow. The accounts also notify the app not to suggest anything marked as potentially sensitive to these accounts in the first place. This applies not only to traditional posts but Reels and suggested accounts as well.

Sensitive posts can include things like sexually suggestive content, content discussing suicide, self-harm or disordered eating, images of violence including fights caught on camera and posts discussing plastic surgery procedures.

Teens will also get access to a new Explore feature that allows them to select topics they want to see more posts about, allowing them to further tailor what comes across their pages.

Messaging is also restricted by default on Teen Accounts, meaning they can only be messaged by people they follow or are already connected to. Teen Accounts can also only be tagged or mentioned by people they follow and come equipped with Instagram's tightest anti-bullying settings, meaning offensive words and phrases will be filtered out of comments and DM requests. 

How will Instagram enforce Teen Accounts?

Instagram also has plans to enforce these age restrictions even when teens attempt to circumvent them by lying about their birth dates or attempting to gain parental control over each other's accounts.

Account creators will be asked to verify their age using ID, and additional verification steps will be added. Since 2022, teens have been required to prove their age with a video selfie or ID check if they attempt to change their birthday from under the age of 18 to over 18. If a teen attempts to update their birthday from a younger age to an older age, the platform requires proof of age with an ID check.

Further steps will include using information about a teen’s original account to prevent them from using a new account with an adult age or preventing teens from linking their accounts to accounts with adult ages.

Likewise, Instagram is working on an AI model that can detect if someone is likely to be underage even if they put an adult birthday in at the account signup. By using clues like a review of the accounts and types of content an account is interacting with, the AI tech, which has yet to be rolled out, may automatically switch an account over to a teen version, though account holders will be able to change this setting.

Parental control features

Parental controls are a major part of the new Teen Accounts, as Instagram said its inspiration for the new features came from feedback on parents' most common concerns.

Parents can set up parental supervision on their teens' accounts, which enables them to approve and deny their teens’ requests to change settings or allow teens to manage their settings themselves and gives parents access to optional monitoring tools.

Using these tools, parents can see the topics their teens are looking at and get a look at who they are chatting with. While parents can't read their children's messages or see which posts they view directly, they can see who their teen has messaged in the past seven days and what topics they have opted to see more of on their feeds.

A few more of these parental tools allow users to limit the amount of time spent on Instagram. Some of these include:

• Time limit reminders: Teens will get notifications telling them to leave the app after 60 minutes each day. 
• Sleep mode enabled: Sleep mode will be turned on between 10 PM and 7 AM, which will mute notifications overnight and send auto-replies to DMs. 
• Set total daily time limits for teens’ Instagram usage: Parents can decide how much time their teen can spend on Instagram each day. Once a teen hits that limit, they’ll no longer be able to access the app. 

How to get an Instagram Teen Account

Instagram began placing all teens under 18 who sign up for a new account on Teen Accounts starting Tuesday, but existing accounts belonging to teenagers will not automatically transfer quite yet.

According to the company, Instagram plans to move existing accounts owned by teenagers over to Teen Accounts within the next 60 days in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, and elsewhere starting in January.