Instagram has introduced ‘teen accounts,’ a tool designed to safeguard under-18 users and improve their safety on the platform.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, announced the debut via their blog on Tuesday.
It stated that all accounts belonging to individuals under 18 will be immediately converted to Instagram adolescent accounts, which will be set to private by default.
Teen accounts will only receive messages from those they follow or are already associated with.
The platform will also screen out “offensive words and phrases” from comments and direct message requests, as well as “sensitive content” such as violence and cosmetic operation videos.
Teenagers will receive reminders instructing them to abandon the app after 60 minutes every day.
A “sleep mode” will also block alerts between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and automatically respond to messages instructing others to contact the user during the day.
Users under the age of 16 will require parental permission to change the default settings, however 16 and 17 year olds will be able to disable the settings without parental clearance.
Parents will also have access to a set of tools for monitoring their children’s interactions and limiting app usage.
The functionality is scheduled to be available in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia within 60 days, with other nations following suit in January.
Meta also promised that teen accounts will be added to additional social media companies under its parentage by 2025.