Meta brings teen accounts to Facebook and Messenger, and bolsters Instagram restrictions

Teen use of social media platforms is something that is concerning for many parents and has become the subject of political and legal debates. Having introduced Instagram Teen Accounts, last year, Meta has now done the same for both Facebook and Messenger.

Just as with Instagram, Teen Accounts on the social and messaging platforms have built-in protections and restrictions.  At the same time, the company is also introducing additional controls and restrictions for teenage users on Instagram.

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Meta says that its family of Teen Accounts has been developed with parents in mind, and it is not surprising to find that the idea has spread from Instagram to other company products. Although the rollout is underway now, it is not yet global -- which raises questions about the possibility of circumvention.

In a blog post about the new Team Account, Meta says:

Teen Accounts on Facebook and Messenger will offer similar, automatic protections to limit inappropriate content and unwanted contact, as well as ways to ensure teens’ time is well spent. We’ll begin rolling Facebook and Messenger Teen Accounts out to teens in the US, UK, Australia and Canada and will bring the experience to teens in other regions soon.

The company says that it will automatically place teens into Teen Accounts, and teens under 16 need a parent’s permission to relax any of these settings. 

On the subject of new protections that are on their way to Instagram Teen Accounts in the coming weeks, Meta says:

We know parents are worried about strangers contacting their teens -- or teens receiving unwanted contact. In addition to the existing built-in protections offered by Teen Accounts, we’re adding new restrictions for Instagram Live and unwanted images in DMs. With these changes, teens under 16 will be prohibited from going Live unless their parents give them permission to do so. We’ll also require teens under 16 to get parental permission to turn off our feature that blurs images containing suspected nudity in DMs.

Although we also know about the restrictions that an Instagram Teen Account is subject to, Meta has not been, as yet, very clear about how this translates onto Messenger and Facebook.