Instagram’s change will affect teens in the US, UK, Canada and Australia
Instagram is rolling out new features that will set new and existing accounts of users under 18 as “Teen Accounts” and make them private.
The move is designed to improve privacy and safety for minors amid growing scrutiny from lawmakers and the public about social media’s impact on teens’ mental health.
The changes
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New features allow more parental controls, including viewing whom their kids DM (but not its contents) and most viewed topics.
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New accounts will have privacy settings such as restricted content and the Hidden Words feature to filter offensive comments.
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Those under 16 cannot change privacy settings without a parent’s permission. The parent must approve the change through the app’s parental supervision tool.
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“Teen Accounts” will come with a “Sleep Mode” that silences notifications from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Minors will also receive recommendations from age-appropriate topics and be reminded to take breaks from the app.
The change will affect teens in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Instagram plans to expand these features to the EU by 2025. Meta also plans to implement these features on other platforms next year.
The social media app will use AI and other methods to verify users’ age.