Meta Expands Teen Accounts To Facebook & Messenger
They also added more teen protections on Instagram.
Last year, Instagram announced Teen Accounts with the goal of making kids ages 13-17 safer on social media when it comes to overuse, bullying, and inappropriate content. Now, a year later, Meta is adding to those protections on Instagram while also expanding the program to two other social platforms, Facebook and Messenger.
In its original form, Instagram Teen Accounts allowed teens to pick specific topics to see content about, allowing them to better shape their algorithm. The accounts also allowed to see who’s messaging their kids, but not what the messages say, allowing older teens their privacy while still keeping them safer. Finally, the accounts had mandatory sleep modes and reminders to put the app away after a certain amount of time.
In its new iteration, Instagram Teen Accounts — which launched on April 8 — kids under the age of 16 won’t be about to go Live without express parental permission. In addition, teens under the age of 16 won’t have the option to un-blur photos suspected of containing nudity in their DMs unless their parents turn the feature off.
Both of these new features will be rolled out to all teen accounts during the next few months.
Meta will also roll teens on Facebook and Messenger into Teen Accounts that work like Instagram teen accounts.
“Teen Accounts on Facebook and Messenger will offer similar, automatic protections to limit inappropriate content and unwanted contact, as well as ways to ensure teens’ time is well spent,” Meta wrote in a press release. “We’ll begin rolling Facebook and Messenger Teen Accounts out to teens in the US, UK, Australia and Canada and will bring the experience to teens in other regions soon.”
So far, about 54 million teens have been moved to Teen Accounts on Instagram, and the response from parents has been positive. About 97% of teens ages 13-15 have left their protections on. And a Meta poll found that 95% of parents have found the teen accounts helpful and 84% believe that the features make it easier to protect their kids.
