Meta this week bolstered online safety for teens in South Africa with the launch of Teen Accounts on Instagram. This initiative prioritises teens' safety, privacy and positive online experiences, it says.
Teen Accounts were first introduced by Meta in September last year, with initial rollouts in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, followed by expansion to the European Union by the end of the year.
Now, Meta is bringing these protections to South African teens. The accounts come with built-in protections limiting who teens can interact with and the content they see. Teens under 16 will require parental permission to change settings, giving parents greater control and peace of mind.
It was highlighted during the launch that more South African teens are joining Instagram. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritise their safety and privacy, while ensuring parents can trust their teens are having positive online experiences, free from harm or inappropriate content.
Speaking at the launch, Sylvia Musalangani, safety policy manager for Africa, Middle East and Turkey at Meta, highlighted the importance of involving parents from the get-go, and how these new features promote safe and positive online experiences for teens and parents.
“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,” she said.
Musalangani added that Teen Accounts address the largest concerns reported by parents globally around teens’ use of social media apps.
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 10pm to 7am, this feature mutes notifications and sends automatic replies to DMs overnight.
Since Meta started reimagining its apps for teens with Teen Accounts globally in September 2024, Meta has enrolled 54 million teens into Teen Accounts on Instagram, with 97% of those aged 13 to 15 remaining within the strict default protection settings.
Musalangani further said unsupervised late teens aged 16 and 17 can change all settings to less restrictive options without parental permission.
“It's important for us to know at what age is it important to have a parent involved, but also at what age is it important to ensure these teenagers have a sort of freedom.”
With the Teen Account, parents will be able to see who their teen is messaging, so they can have conversations with their teens about how to be safe in direct messaging, noted Musalangani. However, parents will not be able to see the messages themselves, because Meta also want to ensure the teens that privacy is taken into account.
Age assurance
Musalangani said Meta is aware that some teens may try to get around the new settings by lying about their age.
“We are taking a number of steps, including using age verification technology to help ensure teens on Instagram are placed in Teen Accounts. Teens will have to prove their age through a video selfie or ID check if they attempt to change their birth date from under 18 to over 18, so when we see they are toggling with their birth date to present themselves as an adult, we will activate more increased checks.”
Lindo Sithole, a South African parenting influencer, commented: “In this digital age, ensuring your child’s online safety can be daunting. This initiative is an empowering step towards navigating this new era with greater awareness and safety.”
To mark the launch, Meta is hosting an exclusive event series where parents, content creators, policy stakeholders, media and teens can engage on the available safety features and tools.
For more information about Teen Accounts and updates to parental supervision tools, visit here.
Share