All Teen Accounts on Instagram Are Now Automatically Private, Plus More Changes

Instagram has made changes in order to have a platform safer for its younger users.

Going into effect Tuesday for anyone under 18 in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia who signs up to use Instagram will now be placed into restrictive accounts. Those who are under 18 and have previously signed up will have their account switched over in 60 days.

"Teen Accounts have built-in protections which limit who can contact them and the content they see, and also provide new ways for teens to explore their interests. We’ll automatically place teens into Teen Accounts, and teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to change any of these settings to be less strict," Instagram said in a statement. 

"We understand parents’ concerns, and that’s why we’re reimagining our apps for teens with new Teen Accounts. This new experience is designed to better support parents, and give them peace of mind that their teens are safe with the right protections in place," the company added.

READ MORE: Instagram Adds New Music Feature and It Feels Like the 2000s

To prevent teens from lying about their age in order to avoid the new restrictions, Meta, shared that it is working on a piece of technology that proactively finds teen accounts that are parenting to be adult accounts. Once it does this, it will place them back into a restricted teen account, the Associated Press reports.

In addition to the new policies, "sensitive content" will now be limited and teens will get notifications if they spend 60 minutes or more on the app. Additionally, a "sleep mode" will be turned on that switches off notifications from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m.

What's more, teens will have restricted private messages so that they can only receive them from people they follow or are already connected to.

The new policies from Meta comes after the company faces lawsuits from dozens of states over accusations of the company's platforms harming people and contributing to a mental health crisis in the youth.