Announced last month, Instagram has begun migrating children under the age of 16 who use the app and live in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia.
This new account type aims to restrict what children can do on Instagram, to make them safer and provide peace of mind to parents. Children who want to change their in-built protections will need a parent’s permission.
Key Takeaways:
- All teen accounts will be private, meaning they will have to accept new followers, and people who don’t follow them won’t be able to interact with them in any way. This will apply to messages, but also tags and mentions.
- Instagram will use its Hidden Words feature to automatically filter comments and DM requests to try and minimise bullying.
- The most restrictive settings will be around content and what the children are able to view. This will be geared towards teens’ friends and their interests, allowing them to preselect what content they’re genuinely interested in.
- In an attempt to reduce the amount of time spent on the app, users will receive a reminder after one hour of daily use. Also, sleep mode will be enabled between 10p.m and 7 a.m muting notifications and auto-replying to direct messages (DMs).
If teens want to change any of these settings, they must set up parental supervision on Instagram by linking their account to their parent’s account. This will allow parents some oversight into what the children are doing on the app. For instance, parents will be able to see who children are messaging BUT not be able to read the messages.
As well, parents will also be able to set daily limits for how long their children can use Instagram.
Learn more about Instagram Teen accounts
Here are more Instagram resources:
