Sentinel Digital Desk
Instagram is launching its Teen Accounts feature in India, its largest market with over 350 million users. The feature aims to improve safety for young users by introducing stricter privacy settings, content controls, and options for parental supervision.
Teen Accounts were first introduced last year in countries like the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, where users under 16 were automatically switched to this setup. Now, Indian teens will also benefit from these enhanced safety measures.
Teen Accounts are designed for safer online experiences by restricting interactions, limiting content, and involving parents in account settings. These accounts are private by default, allowing only approved followers to view posts. Meta also restricts messaging to only people teens are already connected with.
A key feature of Teen Accounts is allowing parents to monitor their child's Instagram activity. Parents of users under 16 must approve changes to account settings, while those of older teens can choose to enable supervision.
Parents won't be able to read private messages but can monitor interactions, set screen time limits, and block the app during certain hours to balance privacy with safety.
Meta is blocking harmful content for teens by filtering offensive words and removing posts about fighting or certain beauty products from the Explore section and Reels. Teens can customize their content preferences to topics like sports, music, food, and technology.
To tackle age verification, Meta is using ID verification and video selfies to confirm users' ages, ensuring only eligible users access Teen Account safety features.