Starting today, Instagram will begin putting new and existing users under the age of 18 into “Teen Accounts” — a move that will affect how tens of millions of teens interact with the platform, The Verge reported.
The new account type automatically applies a set of protections to young users, and only users of 16 years or older can loosen some of these settings.
For starters, the accounts of all minors on Instagram will be private by default (not just teens under 16) and will come with some of Instagram’s existing restrictions for young users, such as has those that prevent strangers from direct messaging them. But other new features are coming too, including a Sleep Mode that silences notifications from 10PM to 7AM.
Teens will also get to pick age-appropriate topics that they can see more of in Instagram’s recommendations and on the Explore page, such as “sports,” “animals & pets,” “travel,” and more. Instagram will continue limiting the types of content teens see on Reels or on the Explore page. It will also send alerts reminding teens to take breaks from the app.
Along with these changes, Instagram is updating some of its parental controls. Parents who want to supervise their teen on the app will be able to see who their child has messaged in the past seven days (without seeing the contents of the messages). They’ll also get to see which topics their teen has chosen to view most often.
The Guardian reported Meta is putting Instagram users under the age of 18 into new “teen accounts” to allow parents greater control over their activities, including the ability to block children from viewing the app at night.
The change will apply to new teen users but will also be extended to existing accounts held by teenagers over the next few months.
Changes under the teen account setting include giving parents the ability to set daily time limits for using the app, block teens from using Instagram at certain times, see accounts their child is exchanging messages with and being shown the content categories they are viewing.
Teenagers signing up to Instagram are already placed by default into the strictest privacy settings, which include barring adults from messaging teens who don’t follow them and muting notifications at night.
However, under the new “teen account” feature users under the age of 16 will need parental permission to change those settings, while 16- and 17-year-olds defaulted into the new features will be able to change them independently. Once an under-16 tries to change their settings, the parental supervision features will allow adults to set new time limits, block access at night and view who their child exchanges messages with.
BBC reported Instagram is overhauling the way it works for teenager, promising more “built-in protections” for young people and added controls and reassurance for parents.
The new “teen accounts” are being introduced from Tuesday in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
They will turn many privacy settings on by default for all under 18s, including making their content unviewable to people who don’t follow them, and making them actively approve all new followers.
In my opinion, it is a good idea for parents of teens to set boundaries for when their teens can use Instagram. Parents should also take a look at who their teens have been following.
Instagram users have started complaining on X (formerly Twitter) after discovering that Meta has begun limiting recommended political content by default, 
Instagram (which is owned by parent company Meta) announced that they are committed to fostering a safe and supportive community for everyone who uses Instagram. There are some easy things you can do to help keep your account safe, like making sure you have a strong password and enabling two-factor authentication.