Social media platform, Instagram has launched a new feature, ‘teen accounts’, to help protect under-18 users and enhance their safety on it.
Gatekeepers News reports that Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, announced the launch through a statement released on its web blog on Tuesday.
Meta said all accounts belonging to users under 18 will be automatically converted to Instagram teen accounts and set to private by default.
Teen accounts will only receive messages from people they follow or are already connected to.
Also, Instagram will limit sensitive content including violence and videos promoting cosmetic procedures, and remove offensive words and phrases from comments and direct message requests.
The Teenagers will get notifications telling them to leave the app after 60 minutes each day.
A sleep mode will automatically mute notifications between 10 pm and 7 am, and auto-reply to messages telling people to contact the user during the daytime.
Users under the age of 16 will need parental permission to modify the default settings, while 16 and 17 will be allowed to disable the settings without needing approval from a parent.
Parents will have access to a set of tools that let them monitor their children’s interactions and restrict app usage.
The feature will become effective within 60 days in UK, US, Canada, and Australia. Other countries will begin to get theirs by January.
In addition, Meta announced it will bring teen accounts to other social media platforms under its parentage in 2025.
