Instagram makes teen accounts private as pressure mounts

Teen accounts will be private by default, and sensitive content will be limited.

Instagram is making teen accounts private by default as it tries to make the platform safer for children amid a growing backlash against how social media affects young people’s lives.

Beginning on Tuesday in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, anyone under 18 who signs up for Instagram will be placed into restrictive teen accounts, and those with existing accounts will be migrated over in the next 60 days. Teens in the European Union will see their accounts adjusted later this year.

Meta acknowledged that teenagers may lie about their age and said it will require them to verify their ages in more instances, such as if they try to create a new account with an adult birthday. The Menlo Park, California-based company also said it is building technology that proactively finds teen accounts that pretend to be grown-ups and automatically places them into the restricted teen accounts.

Private messages in these accounts are restricted so teens can only receive them from people they follow or are already connected to. “Sensitive content”, such as videos of people fighting or those promoting cosmetic procedures, will be limited, Meta said. Teens will also get notifications if they are on Instagram for more than 60 minutes and a “sleep mode” will be enabled that turns off notifications and sends autoreplies to direct messages from 10pm until 7am.

While these settings will be turned on for all teens, 16- and 17-year-olds will be able to turn them off. Kids under 16 will need their parents’ permission to do so.