Meta is adding several new protections for teens using Instagram, which includes all users under the age of 16 – this is automatically applied as soon as the platform identifies the user is below the age limit. New additions this time around includes restrictions from livestreaming and viewing content that potentially includes nudity.
Instagram Increases Teen Accounts Protection
The company says these updates will roll up in the coming months, and to lift these restrictions, teens will require parents to change the associated settings. Besides the two new protections, teen accounts has already feature limits on content, messaging, tagging and usage time configurable by parents, since the feature was introduced last September. Additionally, teen accounts are set to private by default, meaning their content will not be visible unless the user is in the teen’s follower list.
Besides Instagram, teen accounts will be making their way into other Meta-owned apps, including Facebook and Messenger, in the coming months. That said, this will apply to US, UK, Australia and Canada for now, with other regions set to follow “soon”.
As of April 8, 2025, there are at least 54 million active teen accounts globally, per Meta; in a recent survey done in US, 94% of parents says teen accounts are helpful to them, while 85% says the feature makes it easier to help their teens to have positive experiences on Instagram.
Pokdepinion: Hopefully this can be expanded to other regions soon.
