Instagram is automatically putting teens into private, more restrictive accounts

Instagram has launched a new initiative that will now automatically put teenagers into private accounts with more restrictions.

Meta announced Instagram Teen Accounts on Tuesday, which will limit who can contact teenage users on the app, what content they see, and who they interact with. Teens under the age of 16 will need parental permission to make the settings any less strict.

Instagram Teen Accounts will be set to private by default, meaning followers they do not accept cannot view or interact with their content. Teens will also be placed in the strictest messaging settings so that only people they follow or are connected to can message them.

Teen Accounts will also have more restrictive sensitive content settings so things like fights or other inappropriate content won’t show up in Reels or on the Explore page as the young users browse the app.

In terms of interactions on the app, teens can only be tagged or mentioned by people they follow, and an anti-bullying feature will be on the most restrictive sensitive content setting so that offensive words or phrases will be filtered out of their comments or direct message requests.

Teen Accounts will also help nurture healthy habits with features like time limit reminders nudging them to leave the app after 60 minutes per day, and sleep mode, which will be enabled between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. This will mute notifications overnight and send automatic direct message replies.

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“Instagram Teen Accounts reflect the importance of tailoring teens’ online experiences to their developmental stages, and implementing appropriate protections. Younger adolescents are more vulnerable as their skills are still emerging and require additional safeguards and protection. Overall, the settings are age-specific, with younger and older teens being offered different protections,” Rachel Rodgers, associate professor of applied psychology at Northeastern University, said in a press release.

With Teen Accounts, parents also have more control. Though they can’t read messages, parents will be able to see who their children have chatted with in the past seven days and check out topics they are browsing. Parents can also set daily time limits for the app and block off usage during certain time periods they chose.

Because teens can lie about their age to avoid the more restrictive settings, Instagram will require them to verify their age in more places.

Any teenagers signing up for Instagram as of now will automatically be set up with a Teen Account. Existing teenage users will begin to be moved into Teen Accounts next week, with a goal of all teenagers on the app in Teen Accounts within 60 days in the U.S., UK, Canada and Australia. Instagram will start placing younger users in Teen Accounts in the European Union later this year.

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