Instagram is launching its Teen Accounts feature for users in India, as part of ongoing initiatives to safeguard younger individuals on the Meta-owned platform. This functionality limits the operations of accounts maintained by users below the legal age on the service, and it necessitates parental approval to modify certain settings on the platform. Instagram will also permit parents of users aged 16 and older to activate supervision features, and specific inappropriate words and phrases will be filtered from messages and comments.
Instagram Teen Accounts Begin Rolling Out to Users in Phases
In a blog post detailing the rollout of Teen Accounts in India, Instagram announced that it will default to private settings for teen accounts for existing users under 16 and new users under 18. Private accounts restrict interactions to approved users, which means that other Instagram accounts won’t be able to view teenagers’ posts or comment on them.
Younger users will be permitted to message only those accounts they have added on the service. Tags and mentions will also be restricted on Teen Accounts, and the platform will prohibit offensive language that could be used to intimidate or bully younger users through comments and messages.
Instagram also imposes restrictions on content access for Teen Accounts, and it will filter out advertisements for cosmetic procedures from the Explore tab or from Reels, along with content depicting physical confrontations. After teenagers have used the app for 60 minutes in a single day, it will prompt them to log off, while Sleep Mode will be automatically activated between 10pm and 7am, according to the platform.
Improved Parental Controls, Age Verification Measures
Parents will have the ability to oversee their teens’ activities on Instagram, including viewing a list of whom they messaged on the platform in the past seven days. The service will not disclose the details of their children’s messages to parents. Additionally, parents can establish daily limits that restrict access to Instagram after a certain time limit or during sleep hours.
Instagram notes that some younger users do not provide accurate age information when signing up for the platform. To address this issue, the service is enhancing its age verification processes — including through the use of ID cards or video selfies — to ensure that all accounts owned by younger users are categorized as Teen Accounts on the platform.
