Meta will port all designated Instagram accounts automatically to "Teen Accounts", which will be private accounts by default, the company said on Tuesday.
Children under 16 will need parental consent to modify the built-in protections and make them less strict. Additionally, teens will gain access to a new feature designed specifically for them, allowing them to choose topics they want to see more of in Explore. Subscribing to a teen account will require the owner’s approval. People who are not following the teen account will not be able to view its content or interact with the teen. Teens can only be tagged or mentioned by users they follow.
Sensitive content in Explore and Reels will be restricted for teens, and offensive words in comments will be filtered. Teens will receive notifications asking them to log out after 60 minutes each day. A "sleep mode" will also be enabled from 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM, during which notifications will be disabled.
Teens will need parental consent to use less restrictive settings. While parents won’t be able to read their children’s messages, they will be able to see who their child has messaged over the past seven days.
Meta said it will place the identified users into teen accounts within 60 days in the U.S., UK, Canada and Australia, and in the European Union later this year. Teens around the world will start to get teen accounts in January.
Meta also plans to roll out Teen Accounts across other platforms next year.