Teenagers below a certain age will not be allowed to go live on Instagram without their parents' consent for now.
Meta has prohibited users under 16 from using live streaming features unless they receive approval from a parent, as stated by the technology company. blog post on Tuesday, April 9. The change is part of a broader push to expand protections for teen users across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.
At least 54 million active "Teen Accounts" exist globally, as reported by Meta.
Under these new rules, individuals under 16 years old will not be allowed to go live without obtaining consent from their parents first," stated Meta. "Additionally, we will mandate that teenagers below the age of 16 must have parental approval to disable our function that obscures pictures with potential nudity in direct messages. These modifications will roll out over the coming few months.
The recent update expands upon the Teen Accounts feature that Meta introduced in September 2024. This feature aims to provide teens with a more secure social media environment as standard. These accounts include enhanced restrictions on messaging permissions, visibility of content, and time spent within the application.
Meta stated that the model has gained significant popularity. According to their claim, 97% of teenagers aged 13 to 15 have adhered to the default limitations, and 94% of U.S. parents believe that Teen Accounts are beneficial.
These safeguards are being extended to Facebook and Messenger as well, beginning with users in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Teen accounts on these platforms will adopt similar restrictions to those on Instagram, includingprivate mode settings, limitations on screen time, and prevention of direct messages from individuals who aren't followed.
This represents the most recent update for Meta, which also revealed a new Friends tab On Facebook, this setting displays content exclusively from your friends and excludes recommended posts and advertisements.
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