Instagram needs parental consent for children under the age of 16

London (AP) – Instagram users under the age of 16 will not be able to nudity live or a nuditation in difficulty in the direct messages they received without parental approval, the owner of the platforms said on Tuesday when it widen its safety measures for adolescents.

The social media company also said that it extended the guarantees for users under the age of 18 to Facebook and Messenger.

Meta launched her teenage account program for Instagram in September to give parents more options to supervise their children’s online activity in the midst of a growing reaction against the way social media affects the lives of young people.

The latest modifications will first take place to users of the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Australia, before leaving global users in the following months.

Under changes, adolescents under the age of 16 are prevented from using Instagram Live unless parents allow permission. They also need the authorization to “deactivate our functionality which blurs the images containing suspected nudity” in direct messages, Meta said in a blog article.

In another major update, Meta said that she extended the account guarantees for adolescents to her Facebook and Messenger platforms,

These will include protections already in place for teenage users, in particular by defining adolescent accounts to private by default, blocking private messages from foreigners, strict limits of sensitive content such as combat videos, reminders of leaving the application after 60 minutes and notifications that are interrupted during bedtime.

“The accounts for adolescents on Facebook and Messenger will offer similar automatic protections to limit inappropriate content and unwanted contacts, as well as means of guaranteeing that the time of adolescents is well spent,” said Meta.

The company said that at least 54 million adolescent accounts had been created since the program launch in September.

Originally published: April 8, 2025 at 4:21 PDT