Meta expands Teen Accounts to Facebook and Messenger

Meta has recently launched Teen Accounts to Facebook and Messenger, which introduces a lot of significant safety restrictions. Teen Accounts are already available on Instagram, but Meta stated today that it is spreading the service to its other social media sites. Meanwhile, today's update includes additional security safeguards for Instagram's teen users.

Teen Accounts on Facebook and Messenger will launch initially in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. With these new limits, accounts for teens under the age of 16 will be automatically transferred to the new teen account experience. This delegated certain essential controls to their parents, which may help them be secure online.

The goal is to prevent unwanted and inappropriate contact. According to TechCrunch, kids will only be allowed to receive messages from persons they have previously messaged or who they follow. Only friends will be able to view their stories. Tagging, mentioning, and commenting will only be available to friends and those they follow. It is unclear what further restrictions are included under the "teen account" umbrella.

Teens who use Facebook and Messenger will also be reminded to log off after an hour each day. At night, "Quiet mode" will be automatically enabled.

As previously noted, Instagram's Teen Accounts are also undergoing upgrades. Teens under 16 will no longer be able to go live on Instagram without parental consent. They will also be unable to disable image blurring, a fundamental component in Instagram's messaging system. When photographs are transmitted via DM, the app automatically blurs them if they are suspected of containing nudity, and minors will no longer be able to disable the feature on their own – parents must consent.

Meta has also stated that Teen Accounts are performing well on Instagram, with 97% of teens aged 13 to 15 opting to maintain the safety limitations. Since the feature's rollout in September 2024, 54 million kids have been switched to Teen Accounts.