Instagram to automatically put teens into private accounts with increased restrictions and parental controls

Teenagers on Instagram will soon be automatically placed in a new type of account with built-in privacy restrictions that give parents more control.

On Tuesday, Meta, the social media platform's parent company, will begin rolling out its "teen accounts" feature, which aims to put all teens — including those who may try to lie about their ages — into private accounts that can be messaged, tagged or mentioned only by people they already follow. It's the company's most significant move yet to manage how minors use Instagram.

The feature is Meta's latest effort to combat child safety issues across its platforms. In January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to parents at a Senate online child safety hearing who said Instagram contributed to their children's suicides or exploitation.

In recent years, the company has released a variety of features and opt-in restrictions aimed at teen users, including parental supervision controls. But so far, they've been sporadically applied.

Naomi Gleit, head of product at Meta, said it has been working to bundle new and existing tools into a more standardized package.

"Everyone under 18, creators included, will be put into teen accounts," Gleit told NBC News. "They can remain public if their parent is involved and gives them permission and is supervising the account. But these are pretty big changes that we need to get right."

The company has "gotten a lot of feedback from parents, mostly about a few things," Gleit said.

"One, it can be simpler and easier to use, and so that's one of the goals of this launch," she said. "Two, there's some inconsistencies in the current settings that we do have. ... And then the third thing is really just wanting to have more control and tools to help their teen