We want teens to have safe, age-appropriate experiences on our apps. We\u2019ve developed <\/span>more than 30 tools and features<\/span><\/a> to help support teens and their parents, and we\u2019ve spent over a decade developing policies and technology to address content and behavior that breaks our rules.<\/span><\/p>\n Earlier this month, <\/span>we announced<\/span><\/a> new steps to further limit teens\u2019 ability to see potentially sensitive content on Instagram and Facebook, as well as <\/span>new nudges <\/span><\/a>to encourage teens to close Instagram at night. Today, we\u2019re announcing more steps to help protect teens from unwanted contact, and to make it simpler for parents to shape their teens\u2019 online experiences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To help protect teens from unwanted contact on Instagram, we restrict adults over the age of 19 from messaging teens who don\u2019t follow them, and we <\/span>limit<\/span><\/a> the type and number of direct messages (DMs) people can send to someone who doesn\u2019t follow them to one text-only message.<\/span><\/p>\n Today we\u2019re announcing an additional step to help protect teens from unwanted contact by turning off their ability to receive DMs from anyone they don\u2019t follow or aren\u2019t connected to on Instagram \u2013 including other teens \u2013 by default.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Under this new default setting, teens can only be messaged or added to group chats by people they already follow or are connected to, helping teens and their parents feel even more confident that they won\u2019t hear from people they don\u2019t know in their DMs. Teens in <\/span>supervised accounts<\/span><\/a> will need to get their parent\u2019s permission to change this setting (more below).<\/span><\/p>\n This default setting will apply to all teens under the age of 16 (or under 18 in certain countries). Those already on Instagram will see a notification at the top of their Feed letting them know we\u2019re making these changes to their message settings.<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re also making these changes to teens\u2019 default settings on Messenger, where under 16s (or under 18 in certain countries) will only receive messages from Facebook friends, or people they\u2019re connected to through phone contacts, for example.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition, we\u2019re planning to launch a new feature designed to help protect teens from seeing unwanted and potentially inappropriate images in their messages from people they\u2019re already connected to, and to discourage them from sending these types of images themselves. We\u2019ll have more to share on this feature, which will also work in encrypted chats, later this year.<\/span><\/p>\n We first <\/span>launched parental supervision on Instagram<\/span><\/a> in March 2022 and since then have continued to add <\/span>new features<\/span><\/a> to help involve parents more in their teens\u2019 online experiences. These include the ability for parents to set time limits and schedule breaks, to understand when their teen blocks or shares they\u2019ve reported someone, and to be notified when their teen changes their settings.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, parents using supervision will be prompted to approve or deny their teens\u2019 (under 16) requests to change their default safety and privacy settings to a less strict state \u2013 rather than just being notified of the change. For example, if a teen using supervision tries to change their account from private to public, change their Sensitive Content Control from \u201cLess\u201d to \u201cStandard\u201d, or \u2013 now \u2013 tries to change their DM settings to hear from people they\u2019re not already following or connected to, their parent will receive a notification prompting them to approve or deny the request.<\/span><\/p>\n As with all our parental supervision tools, this new feature is intended to help facilitate offline conversations between parents and their teens, as they navigate their online lives together and decide what\u2019s best for them and their family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Larry Magid, CEO of ConnectSafely<\/span>, said: <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEmpowering parents to <\/span>approve or deny requests to change their teen\u2019s default safety and privacy settings gives parents the tools they need to help protect their teens, while at the same time respecting their teens\u2019 privacy and ability to communicate with their friends and family.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nStricter Private Messaging Settings for Teens<\/h2>\n
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/01_Reachability-Default-Meta.jpg?w=960&resize=960%2C836\")
Helping Parents Shape Their Teens\u2019 Online Experiences<\/h2>\n
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/02_Controls.jpg?w=960&resize=960%2C836\")
<\/p>\n\n