In 2024, Meta launched a teen account on Instagram. This is a new teenage experience with age-appropriate protection and parental supervision tools. This week, Meta is rolling out plans to ensure Florida teens accurately express their age on Instagram and register for teenage accounts if they are eligible.
Currently, Florida parents will receive notifications with information on how to check and verify your teenage age on Instagram. Recognizing that parents may not have time to do this, Meta is also testing new AI technology, even if they actively find accounts belonging to teens, list adult birthdays and place them in teen account settings.
Teen accounts were developed with Florida parents in mind, including content that teens saw online and what they could contact. Since September 2024, over 25 million teens and over in the US have used Instagram teen accounts. Almost all teenagers (97%) ages 13-15 continue to set their default safety settings, with over 90% of parents surveyed saying the new protections will help support teens on Instagram.
We provide information on Instagram about the importance of teens providing the right age online, as well as tips for checking and verifying teenage age together. Parents don’t need to go that alone. We use AI to help place suspicious teens in teen account settings,” Meta said.
Last year, I launched an Instagram teen account to better support my parents and give them the peace of mind that teenagers are in place of proper protection. This rethinked experience has built-in protections that limit the teenagers, the content they see, and who can contact them when they spend online. Teens are automatically placed in these protective environments, and teens under the age of 16 require parent or guardian approval to make changes. Now, we are announcing additional steps we are taking to ensure as many teenagers as possible from these new protections.
According to Meta, the new rollout is very positive, with over 90% of parents surveyed saying that protecting new teen accounts will help support teens on Instagram. “Both parents and teenagers say they are happy with this new, rethinking experience,” Mehta said.
