Meta has expanded its Teen Accounts 13+ content settings globally on Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger. The safeguards are designed to help young users see age-appropriate content by default. The company also introduced Limited Content on Instagram for parents seeking stricter restrictions. Meta plans to roll out the feature on Facebook and Messenger later this year.
Content settings (Source: Meta)
What the 13+ setting includes
Facebook’s 13+ content setting hides content in Feed and Reels that is inappropriate for teens and limits teens’ ability to interact with Profiles, Pages, Groups, and Events that primarily share such content.
On Messenger, the default 13+ setting restricts access to links leading to inappropriate Facebook content and to chats that share it.
Meta said it is exploring new ways to reduce repeated exposure to certain types of content and present a broader mix of content in Explore, Feed, and Reels.
“To help make sure our new content settings are working to deliver the positive, age-appropriate experience we want for Teen Accounts, we asked Alice (formerly ActiveFence) to evaluate our Teen Account settings and perform sophisticated, adversarial stress-testing. Alice is made up of online safety experts with extensive experience in stress-testing systems designed to keep people safe,” the company said.
Assessment finds lower exposure to mature content
Alice’s assessment found that Instagram Teen Accounts using the default 13+ setting were exposed to 68% less mature content than teens on a competitor’s platform. Accounts using the stricter Limited Content setting saw 96% less mature content. When mature content did appear on Instagram, it was less intense than the content shown on the competitor’s platform and in movies rated 13+.
Instagram blocked mature search terms more often than the competitor’s platform. The assessment also confirmed that Instagram Teen Accounts are placed in the 13+ content setting by default, that teens cannot switch to the More Content setting without parental permission, and that users of the Limited Content setting cannot view or post comments.
Alice’s analysis identified two areas for improvement.
Instagram Teen Accounts already included safeguards that limit interactions with accounts that regularly share age-inappropriate content. When Alice identified a small number of accounts that were not being detected, Meta updated its detection systems. Alice retested the changes and confirmed that they worked as intended.
In the small number of cases where researchers encountered mature content on Instagram, most involved risky stunts or viral challenges. Meta found that “car surfing,” a newer trend, was not covered by its existing policies, although “subway surfing” was already restricted for teens. The company updated its policies and restricted this content for teen accounts.
