Default private accounts: Instagram Teen Account offers advanced safety measures

Instagram has recently announced new policies to protect the presence of minors online. The social media platform has always been in the heat for leading children to compromise on their physical and mental health. While Instagram has been continuously working to improve itself, the platform has finally introduced the Instagram Teen Account. According to the company, it is a new experience for teens, guided by parents.
Instagram has already started assigning Teen Accounts. The Meta platform stated that, starting today, it will begin placing teens who sign up for Instagram into Teen Accounts, and it will also notify teens already using Instagram about these changes. It aims to start moving these accounts into Teen Accounts next week. Instagram Teen Accounts will be rolled out in a phased manner, starting with the US, UK, Canada and Australia. These regions will see changes within 60 days from now. It also stated that the European Union region will get this version later this year. This phased rollout aims to introduce Teen Accounts to all teenage users globally, which will start in January next year.
Instagram Teen Accounts have built-in protection, which limits who can contact them and the content they see, and also provides new ways for teens to explore their interests. In the post, the company stated that it will automatically place teens into Teen Accounts, and teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to change any of these settings to be less strict. It added that this new experience is designed to better support parents, and give them peace of mind that their teens are safe with the right protection in place.
The new Teen Account protections are designed to address parents’ biggest concerns, including who their teens are talking to online, the content they’re seeing and whether their time is being well spent. Let’s look at the built-in protection in these accounts.
Default private accounts: The Teen Accounts will be private, by default. This means that the users need to accept new followers and people who don’t follow them can’t see their content or interact with them. This applies to all teens under 16 (including those already on Instagram and those signing up) and teens under 18 when they sign up for the app.
Message restrictions: Teens will be placed in the strictest messaging settings, so they can only be messaged by people they follow or are already connected to.
Sensitive content restrictions: By default, teenagers will be subject to the strictest level of sensitive content control, which limits exposure to potentially harmful content (e.g., violence, cosmetic procedure promotions). This applies to Explore and Reels sections to prioritise teens’ online safety.
Limited interactions: To safeguard teenagers, the platform is limiting tagging and mentions to accounts they follow. It activates the strictest version of Hidden Words, automatically filtering offensive language and harmful phrases from comments and DM requests. This proactive approach promotes a secure and respectful environment.
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 10PM and 7AM, which will mute notifications overnight and send auto-replies to DMs.
The company has also stated that it will also bring Teen Accounts to other Meta platforms next year. These are big updates that will change the Instagram experience for millions of teens, and we need to make sure they work correctly.