Starting September 17, new account measures in Instagram for young users are in effect in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia, with plans to roll out in the EU by the end of 2024. Meta officials stated that young accounts will also begin to be used in Türkiye starting in January.
Under the new measures, "young account" users will have their accounts set to private by default, allowing only approved followers to see and interact with their content. Additionally, users under 18 will only be able to message people they follow back.
Instagram will also filter content that teens may encounter in the Explore and Reels sections, reducing exposure to sensitive content such as violence or cosmetic product advertisements.
"Young accounts" will send time reminders to users under 18, notifying those who exceed 60 minutes of daily use to log off. Furthermore, accounts for users under 18 will enter "sleep mode" between 10 PM and 7 AM, silencing notifications and sending automatic replies to messages during that time.
Parents of underage users will be able to supervise accounts, manage their children's settings, or allow them to manage their own. They will also be able to see which topics their children are selecting for content.
Additionally, parents can view which users their children have messaged in the past week, but they will not have access to the content of those messages.
Under Instagram's new rules, parents can set time limits for their children's use of the app and block access during specific hours. These technologies will help identify teens who register with adult birth dates and convert their accounts to restricted ones.
