Facebook owner Meta Platforms has launched the Teen Accounts feature on Instagram for teenage users under parental guidance in Vietnam.

Meta announced that the Teen Accounts feature on Instagram is designed to address parents' concerns when allowing their children to use social media to connect with friends and explore their personal interests safely.

Teenage users will have their accounts set to private by default. This means they will need to approve new follow requests, and individuals who do not follow them will not be able to view their content or interact with them.

Teen accounts are automatically set to only receive messages from accounts they follow or have previously connected with.

They will automatically be placed under the highest sensitivity level for content controls, limiting access to inappropriate content, such as violent images or cosmetic surgery promotions, on Explore and Reels.

Instagram will also automatically activate the highest level of the Hidden Words feature, which filters out offensive words or phrases in comments and direct messages, for teen accounts. 

Additionally, Instagram will send reminders to teens to log off the app after 60 minutes of use per day. A sleep mode will be automatically enabled from 10:00 pm to 7:00 am, muting notifications overnight and automatically sending responses to direct messages.

These settings aim to help keep teens safe on Instagram by limiting unwanted contact, showing content that is appropriate to their age and helping them manage their time on Instagram, according to Meta.

Parents will be able to view the list of accounts their children have messaged in the past seven days, though they will not be able to read the content of the messages to respect privacy. 

They can also set time limits for their teen’s time spent on Instagram each day, and once the limit is reached, the app will be inaccessible. 

Parents can restrict their children from using Instagram at night or during specific periods.

These protective settings will be automatically activated, allowing parents to decide whether teens under 16 can change these settings. Teen users will need parental approval if they want to use Instagram with lower protective levels. 

For teens aged 16 and older, if parents wish to have additional control, they simply need to enable the supervision setting, which allows them to approve or deny any changes to the protection settings.

To address issues with incorrect age declarations when creating accounts, Instagram will require more age verification steps.

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