Washington. Instagram will now automatically set teen accounts to private as part of its effort to enhance child safety on the platform. Starting Tuesday, this change will apply to users under 18 in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Existing accounts will be transitioned to these restricted settings over the next 60 days, with adjustments for teens in the European Union to follow later this year.

The move comes in response to increasing scrutiny over social media's impact on young people. Meta, Instagram's parent company, acknowledges that some teenagers may falsify their ages and plans to implement stricter age verification processes. Additionally, the company is developing technology to detect and restrict accounts that falsely represent themselves as adults.

Under the new settings, teen accounts will be private by default. Teens will only receive direct messages from people they follow or are already connected with. Meta will also limit exposure to sensitive content, such as violent videos or content promoting cosmetic procedures. A notification system will alert teens if they exceed 60 minutes of screen time, and a "sleep mode" will mute notifications and send auto-replies to direct messages from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

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While these features will be enabled for all users aged 13 to 17, those aged 16 and 17 can opt out of some settings. However, users under 16 will need parental permission to alter these restrictions.

Naomi Gleit, Meta's head of product, highlighted that the new settings aim to address three main parental concerns: unwanted content exposure, inappropriate contact, and excessive screen time. This update comes amid ongoing lawsuits from multiple U.S. states accusing Meta of exacerbating the youth mental health crisis with addictive features on Instagram and Facebook.

Previous safety measures from Meta have faced criticism for insufficient impact. Although teens will be notified after 60 minutes of use, they can still bypass this limit unless parents activate "parental supervision" mode, which allows them to set specific usage limits.

The updated features will give parents enhanced oversight capabilities, including visibility into who their teen is interacting with and their recent activity. Meta hopes this will encourage more active parental involvement in managing their children's online presence.

Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, noted that previous parental controls have seen limited use. Gleit believes the new teen accounts will incentivize both parents and teens to engage with parental supervision tools more effectively.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy criticized the reliance on parents to manage rapidly evolving technology that significantly influences children's development. "We're asking parents to manage a technology that fundamentally changes how their kids experience the world," Murthy stated in May 2023.

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