Meta expands teen safety measures across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger
The global rollout includes age-appropriate content settings, AI age checks and parental self-harm search alerts.
Meta has announced a series of updates aimed at strengthening protections for teenagers across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, with a focus on age-appropriate experiences, parental oversight and wellbeing safeguards.
The company is rolling out its 13-plus content settings globally across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger teen Accounts. Introduced recently in India, the setting is designed to ensure teenagers see age-appropriate content by default.
On Facebook, the setting hides content deemed inappropriate for teens in areas such as Feed and Reels and limits interactions with Profiles, Pages, Groups and Events that primarily post such content.
On Messenger, it restricts teens from viewing links to inappropriate Facebook content and from chatting with accounts that predominantly share inappropriate material.
Meta has also expanded its AI-powered age assurance measures to identify underage users and place them in age-appropriate experiences.
The company said its systems analyse profile information and contextual signals, including posts, comments, bios and captions, to determine whether an account likely belongs to someone under the required age.
These measures are being extended to additional features, including Instagram Reels, Instagram Live and Facebook Groups.
As part of the update, Meta is introducing visual analysis technology to support age detection efforts. The system analyses photos and videos for general visual indicators of age, such as height and bone structure, alongside text and interaction signals. Meta said the technology is not facial recognition and is designed to estimate age ranges rather than identify individuals.
The company is also introducing new alerts for parents using Instagram's supervision tools. Parents will be notified if their teen repeatedly searches for terms related to suicide or self-harm within a short period. The feature has been rolled out to supervising parents in India, Brazil and the European Union, with notifications about the new alerts beginning today.
In addition, parents of supervised teens will now be able to manage their child's experience across Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Meta Horizon through Family Centre, a centralised dashboard that brings together supervision tools across Meta's platforms.