Instagram to roll out parent controls for teen users
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The news: Meta has announced the introduction of teen accounts on Instagram that will allow parents to oversee settings on the accounts of children under the age of 16 years old.
The context: The feature will see these users have their accounts automatically placed on private, along with new messaging restrictions and content limits, Meta said in a briefing on Tuesday night.
The new feature will roll out to users in the US, UK, Canada and Australia within 60 days. Teen accounts will roll out in the European Union later this year before launching around the world from January.
The announcement comes just over a week after the Albanese government announced plans to introduce minimum age requirements for children on social media ahead of the next election, following a trial. The government has yet to decide on an age or method for verifying user ages.
Meta’s new Instagram teen accounts will include a selection of parental supervision tools that allow parents to see who their child is messaging on the app, as well as controls over when and for how long their children can use the photo-sharing platform.
What they said: “Instagram Teen Account protections are designed to address the biggest concerns of parents, including who their teens are interacting with online, the content they’re seeing, and whether their time is being well spent,” Meta’s managing director of Australia Will Easton said in a statement.
“This new experience, guided by parents will help many feel more controlled and confident regarding their teenager’s activity on Instagram. We know parents want to feel confident that their teens can use social media to connect with their friends and explore their interests, without having to worry about unsafe or inappropriate experiences.”
The sources: Meta announcement, Meta
