Instagram, Facebook and Messenger Roll Out Expanded 13+ Content Controls for Teen Accounts Worldwide
Meta is expanding its teen safety settings across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, extending the default 13+ content setting to Teen Accounts globally. The company says the feature is designed to reduce the amount of age-inappropriate content teens can see in places such as Feed, Reels, Explore, Profiles, Pages, Groups, Events, and Messenger links or chats tied to inappropriate Facebook content. A stricter Limited Content option, already available on Instagram, will also be added to Facebook and Messenger later this year.
The update builds on changes first launched last October in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada, when Instagram Teen Accounts were defaulted into the new 13+ setting. Meta says the approach was inspired by movie rating criteria and parent feedback, with 9 out of 10 teens remaining in the setting since launch. The company says parents can still choose the more restrictive Limited Content mode for an extra layer of protection.
Meta also said it has continued collecting feedback from parents around the world, who have reviewed more than 15 million pieces of content. In a recent survey conducted at the end of April in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada, fewer than 2% of posts recommended to teens were judged inappropriate by most parents.
Alongside the expanded safety settings, Meta is testing a new system on Instagram to reduce repeated exposure to certain categories of content that may be useful but should not dominate a teen’s experience. Examples include posts about nutrition, weightlifting, or coping with anxiety. The company said it is testing ways to limit how many such posts teens see in a row across Explore, Feed, and Reels, so their content mix stays more balanced.
Meta also commissioned an external review from Alice, formerly ActiveFence, to stress-test its teen account protections. Alice’s evaluation compared mature themes on Instagram Teen Accounts with a leading competitor’s teen experience and with movie content rated 13+. According to Meta, the assessment found that teens in Instagram’s default 13+ setting saw 68% less mature content than on the competitor’s teen experience, while the Limited Content setting showed 96% less mature content. The review also found that the mature content that did appear on Instagram was less intense than what teens saw on the competitor and in 13+ rated movies.
The assessment also concluded that Instagram blocked mature search terms more often than its competitor and that key protections worked as intended, including defaulting teens into the 13+ setting, requiring parental permission for the More Content setting, and disabling comments in Limited Content mode.
Alice identified two areas for improvement, which Meta says it addressed quickly. The company said it updated detection signals after the review found a few exceptions involving accounts that regularly share age-inappropriate content. Meta also said it revised its policies after a rare case involving “car surfing,” a viral stunt trend that had not yet been covered, even though similar content such as “subway surfing” was already restricted for teens.
Meta says it will continue stress-testing its systems as it expands teen protections and refines how content is recommended to younger users.
