Please ensure you have downloaded the latest version of the app to use supervision tools.

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Creating safe, age-appropriate experiences on Instagram

Our tools and resources are here to help parents and teens feel safe and informed. Explore our guides, tips and insights to experience Instagram with confidence and peace of mind.

Introducing
Instagram Teen Accounts

A new, protected experience for teens, guided by parents

Soon, teens on Instagram will automatically be placed in Teen Accounts, which have built-in limits on who can contact them and the content they see, and more ways to connect and explore their interests. Teens under 16 will need parental permission to change these settings.

SETTING UP SUPERVISION

Get started with supervision tools

Create invite

Create invite

To get started, log in to your account. Under your app settings, select Supervision and then Create Invite. From there, you can choose how you’d like to invite your teen.

TIP

Work together with your teen to establish guidelines and set expectations around supervision. For conversation starters and additional insights, check out our resource guide.

Read more

Gain Insights

Gain Insights

Gain visibility into your teen’s general account settings, view their followers and who they’re following, see how much time they spend on Instagram, and get notified when they need your support.

TIP

If your teen confides in you about online challenges, your calm and supportive response can make a difference. Foster an atmosphere where they feel comfortable seeking your help and explore our resources for more guidelines.

Manage time

Manage time

Help your teen establish boundaries that work for them by setting daily limits for how much time your teen can spend on Facebook and Messenger and create scheduled breaks to control when they can and cannot access the apps.

TIP

Establish boundaries for everyone in the family by incorporating device-free moments into your day, like during meals or before bed. Our guide offers practical tips for implementation.

Read more

FEATURED AND TOOLS

Get in the know about Instagram features

Learn about features and tools dedicated to helping teens create,
explore and connect on Instagram in safe, age-appropriate ways.

We take proactive measures to enhance everyone’s safety. Our team works to review and remove content that violates our Community Guidelines. We’ve also created tools like:

  • Default sensitive content screens that limit visibility for potentially upsetting or triggering posts
  • The ability to set hidden words, which flags comments and message requests that are considered inappropriate or offensive.

With supervision enabled, parents and guardians can:

  • Get notified if their teen reports specific content and chooses to share that information with you

We take bullying and harassment seriously. Comment warnings are displayed to remind people of our Community Guidelines when there’s an attempt to post potentially negative or offensive comments, informing them that their comment may be removed or hidden if they proceed.

  • Our restrict tool prevents comments from being visible by anyone other than the restricted person
  • With blocking, teens can block an account and any future accounts the blocked person may create
  • Limits allow your teen to automatically hide comments and message requests from new followers or people who don’t follow them
  • Controls allow them to restrict tags or mentions to only people they follow or no one at all in a comment, caption or story

With supervision enabled, parents and guardians can:

  • Receive notifications on who your teen is following and who’s following them
  • See who their teen has blocked
  • Get notified if your teen reports something and chooses to share that report with you

Teens are encouraged to create boundaries around how much time they spend on Instagram. You and your teen have access to features like:

  • Sleep mode to silence all notifications at night and change their activity status
  • Daily limits and reminders, where teens are notified to leave the app after 60 minutes each day, and teens under 16 will need their parent’s permission to change this notification

With supervision enabled, parents and guardians can:

  • See insights around their teen’s use
  • Set limits on daily use
  • Give them agency to make extension requests to spend more time on Instagram

The safety and privacy of the people who use Instagram is a top priority for us. When teens join Instagram, their account will be set to protected and age-appropriate settings. Our automatic defaults for teens include:

  • Private accounts for teens under 18. Teens under 16 will need their parents permission to change this setting
  • Message controls that allow teens to limit who can send them DMs and add them to group chats, giving them the choice to only receive messages from people who follow them
  • DM restrictions mean only people they follow or people they’re already connected to can message them or add them to group chats

With supervision enabled, parents and guardians can:

  • See account privacy settings, such as their account privacy, who your teen is able to message with, and who can add them to group chats

It is important that we help teens feel positive about the time they spend on Instagram. We support them with tools like:

  • Alternative topic nudges where we send notifications, prompting them to shift their focus to other topics to encourage awareness
  • Mute to allow them to silence accounts they don’t wish to receive posts and stories from
  • Hide like counts on their posts and the posts they see while scrolling
  • If someone is searching for content that may be related to eating disorders or self-injury, we’ll share helpful expert-backed resources

Youth experts Dr. Hina Talib and Nicole Lopez fireside discussion

RESOURCES

Introducing Instagram Teen Accounts: Built-In Protections for Teens, Peace of Mind for Parents

Teen Accounts automatically place teens in built-in protections limiting who can contact them and the content they see, and helping ensure their time is well spent.

Youth experts Dr. Hina Talib and Nicole Lopez fireside discussion

RESOURCES

Youth experts Dr. Hina Talib and Meta’s Nicole Lopez fireside discussion

Meta's director of youth safety policy Nicole Lopez talks with adolescent medicine specialist and pediatrician Dr. Hina Talib

Youth experts Dr. Hina Talib and Nicole Lopez fireside discussion

RESOURCES

Age-appropriate content online: what it means for parents

Meta is evolving its policies around content that could be more sensitive for teens.

Youth experts Dr. Hina Talib and Nicole Lopez fireside discussion

NEWSROOM

New tools to help protect against sextortion and intimate image abuse

We’re testing new features to help protect young people from sextortion and intimate image abuse.