Meta is has launched Teen Accounts on Instagram in South Africa, aiming to provide safe, private and positive online experiences for teens across Africa.
Parents want to feel confident that their teens can use social media to connect with their friends and explore their interests, without having to worry about unsafe or inappropriate experiences.
Teen Accounts have built-in protections which limit who can contact them and the content they see. Meta will automatically place South African teens into Teen Accounts, and teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to change any of these settings to be less strict.
Key protections offered with Teen Accounts include:
- Private Accounts: Teen accounts are set to private by default, and teens under 16 can only change this setting with parental guidance.
- Messaging Restrictions: Teens can only receive messages from people they are already connected to.
- Sensitive Content Control: Teen Accounts are automatically set to see less sensitive content in search results and recommended content in Explore, Feed and Reels.
- Limited Interactions: Teens can only be tagged or mentioned by people they follow, and the strictest anti-bullying feature, Hidden Words, is enabled by default.
- Time Limit Reminders: Notifications prompt teens to exit the app after 60 minutes of daily usage.
- Sleep Mode: Enabled from 22h00 to 07h00, this feature mutes notifications and sends automatic replies to DMs overnight.
“We’re excited to bring these features to South Africa and help families navigate online spaces safely. Teen Accounts are designed to give parents peace of mind, allowing teens to connect with friends and explore interests without worrying about unsafe experiences,” says Sylvia Musalagani, safety policy manager: Africa, Middle East & Turkey (AMET) at Meta.
Since Meta started reimagining its apps for teens with Teen Accounts globally in September 2024, it has enrolled 54-million teens on Instagram, with 97% of those aged 13 to 15 remaining within the strict default protections protective settings.