Meta launches Instagram for teens to address social media concerns

Meta on Tuesday launched Instagram Teen Accounts, a more limited experience for younger users of the platform, in what is the technology company's latest effort to assuage concerns about the impact of social media on kids. 

Meta will automatically migrate all Instagram users under the age of 16 to the new service, which features built-in protections through settings controlled by their parents. The move is designed to address mounting criticism that social media can harm young people's mental health, as well as put parents at ease about the kind of content their children are exposed to and who is able interact with them. 

User profiles on Teen Accounts are automatically made private and can only be viewed if a request to access a teen's information is accepted. The new tool also places restrictions on messaging, allowing parents to see who their kids are communicating with, and includes a feature that silences notifications at night. Such features may be deactivated, but only with a parent's permission.