Instagram tightens its teen policy with 'Teen Accounts' for under-16s

With teenagers spending so much time on social media, it's only natural for parents to worry about who they might interact with online.

Today, concerned parents will be happy to learn that Instagram is tightening up its teen policy with new 'Teen Accounts'.

All under-16s joining Instagram in the UK, US, Canada and Australia will automatically be transferred to Teen Accounts, with existing accounts to follow in the next 60 days.

Parents and guardians will be able to see who their teenager is messaging and control when and how they can use the app.

The Meta-owned social media giant says that it will implement more age verification requirements to prevent teens from simply lying about their age.

What are Instagram Teen Accounts?

From September 17, all under-16s joining Instagram will be transferred to a Teen Account. Existing accounts will be transferred to Teen Accounts in the next 60 days.

These accounts will place strict limitations on how the app can be used, including:

• Private Accounts: Teens will need to accept new followers. Their content will be hidden from strangers. 
• Messaging Restrictions: Teens can only recieve messages from people they already follow or are connected to. 
• Content Restrictions: Instagram will limit what sensitive content is visible in Explore or Reels. Hidden Word filters will remove offensive phrases from teens' comments and DM requests.
• Time Limits: Parents will be able to set how long teens can use the app and block Instagram during certain times.
• Parental Supervision: Parents will be able to see who their teens are messaging and what topics they have chosen to view.  

Instagram says the new policy is designed to address parents' biggest concerns including who their children are talking to and how they spend their time.

By default, all Teen Accounts will be set to private, which means they will need to approve new followers.

People who haven't been approved to follow the account won't be able to see any posted content or interact with them.

Under-16s will also face a new series of strict controls to limit who they can interact with.

Teen Accounts will be set by default to the tightest messaging restrictions so they can only be messaged by people they follow or are already connected to.

In addition, teens on the app won't be able to be tagged or mentioned by people they don't follow.

This follows Meta's decision earlier this year to completely ban teenagers under the age of 18 from getting messages from strangers across Instagram and Facebook.

The introduction of Teen Accounts adds a number of features designed to restrict what kinds of content teenagers can access.

Instagram will turn on the most restrictive version of the 'Hidden Words' feature by default for all Teen Accounts.

This will automatically filter out 'offensive words and phrases' from teen's comments and DMs.

Under-16s' accounts will be automatically placed in the most restrictive settings of 'sensitive content control' which limits what can be seen in places like Explore and Reels.

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For example, teenagers will no longer be able to see content showing people fighting or promoting cosmetic procedures.

Teen Accounts will be able to specifically select the topics they want to see on their Explore page and recommendations.  

This latest update will take these restrictions a step further by handing over many of the privacy controls to the parents.

Parents will be able to use the 'supervision feature' to adjust specific safety features.

By default, teen accounts will be set to the strictest safety settings and will only be able to lessen or adjust these restrictions with their parent's permission. 

Parents and guardians will be able to decide how much time and when their teen is able to use Instagram. 

Using the supervision feature, parents can set a daily time limit for how much time can be spent on the app or block teens from using Instagram during specific periods.

This update gives parents the option to activate 'Sleep Mode' which mutes notifications between 10 PM and 7 AM and sends auto-replies to DMs.

Parents and guardians will be able to see the topics their teen has chosen to view and who they have messaged in the past seven days - although parents will not be able to read their teen's messages.

To set up these new parental controls, the teen or parent will need to send an invitation for supervision.

To do this, click on 'More' in the bottom left corner of the app and select settings.

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Under the option 'Supervision' click 'Create invitation' in the left menu and copy the invitation link to share with the parent or teenager.

While parents can supervise more than one teen account at a time, a teen can only have one supervisor.

Once accepted, the teenager won't be able to change any of their Teen Account settings without their supervisor's permission.

If a teen does try to change a setting, their parent will receive a notification asking them to approve or reject the change.

Dr Rachel Rodgers, associate professor of applied psychology at Northeastern University, says: 'Instagram Teen Accounts reflect the importance of tailoring teens' online experiences to their developmental stages, and implementing appropriate protections.

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'Younger adolescents are more vulnerable as their skills are still emerging and require additional safeguards and protection.'

Naturally, teenagers will be tempted to lie about their age in order to bypass these controls but Instagram says it is taking measures to limit this.

The platform will require teenagers to verify their age when they first make an account or if they try to make a new account with an adult birthday.

In addition to uploading a picture of their ID, Instagram is testing the use of video selfies which will use AI to estimate the user's age.

Users may also be able to have a mutual follower to vouch for their age provided that the user is over 18.

Instagram says that it is 'building technology to proactively find accounts that belong to teens and automatically place them in protected, age-appropriate settings.'

This technology will supposedly be able to detect teenagers' accounts even if they list an adult birthday.

Testing of this technology will begin in the US early next year.

Teen Accounts will initially only be activated in the UK, US, Canada and Australia but will roll out to the EU later this year and worldwide in January.

METHODS FOR PARENTS TO KEEP THEIR CHILDREN SAFE ONLINE

Children as young as two are using social media, research from charity Barnardo’s has suggested.

Internet companies are being pushed to do more to combat harmful content online but parents can also take steps to alter how their children use the web.

Here are some suggestions of how parents can help their children.

Use parental controls

Both iOS and Google offer features that enable parents to filter content and set time limits on apps.

For iOS devices, such as an iPhone or iPad, you can make use of the Screen Time feature to block certain apps, content types or functions.

On iOS, this can be done by going to settings and selecting Screen Time.

For Android, you can install the Family Link app from the Google Play Store.

Talk to your children

Many charities, including the NSPCC, say talking to children about their online activity is vital to keep them safe.

Its website features a number of tips on how to start a conversation with children about using social media and the wider internet, including having parents visit sites with their children to learn about them together and discussing how to stay safe online and act responsibly.

Understand their internet usage

There are tools available for parents to learn more about how social media platforms operate.

Net Aware, a website run in partnership by the NSPCC and O2, offers information about social media sites, including age requirement guidance.

Limit screen time 

The World Health Organisation recommends parents should limit young children to 60 minutes of screen time every day.

The guidelines, published in April, suggest children aged between two and five are restricted to an hour of daily sedentary screen time.

They also recommend babies avoid any sedentary screen time, including watching TV or sitting still playing games on devices.