Meta Platforms Inc. has announced the expansion of its Teen Accounts to Facebook and Messenger, introducing built-in protections aimed at creating safer digital experiences for teens and providing parents with more control and reassurance.
Teen Accounts prevent users under the age of 18 from seeing sensitive content, sending private messages to certain users or having public accounts that can be easily discovered.
According to Meta, the rollout begins today in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada, with plans to extend to other regions, including Africa, in the near future.
Meta revealed that the Teen Accounts also come with tools to help teens manage their screen time more responsibly.
“We want to make it easier for parents to have peace of mind when it comes to their teens’ experiences across Meta’s apps,” the company said in a statement issued Tuesday.
A global push for safer digital spaces for teens
The initiative builds on Meta’s 2024 revamp of Instagram’s teen experience, which introduced default privacy settings and content restrictions.
- Teen accounts automatically enable the strictest content controls and limit who can message or follow teen users.
- Meta reported that 97% of teens aged 13–15 have remained within the recommended safety settings since these updates were introduced—a strong signal of parental engagement and user retention in safer modes.
- According to Meta, currently, there are at least 54 million teen users globally on Instagram operating under the Teen Account model, which restricts messaging to mutual followers, disables notifications overnight, and prompts users to take breaks after 60 minutes of screen time.
New safety measures coming to Instagram
Alongside the expansion to Facebook and Messenger, Meta also unveiled new protections on Instagram.
The company said teens under age 16 will no longer be able to host live videos without a parent’s permission or share images containing suspected nudity through direct messages.
It has also introduced a new nudity-blurring feature in DMs to combat unsolicited explicit content, which will require parental approval to be disabled.
These changes are expected to roll out globally in the coming months, reinforcing Meta’s ongoing commitment to user safety, especially among its youngest audiences.
