Instagram Is Making a ‘Significant Update’ to Hundreds of Millions of Teen Accounts. Here’s What to Know.
Teens under 18 will feel the effects of new controls by the end of the year, and they need a parent’s permission to opt out.
Instagram, which has hundreds of millions of teenage users, is making “the most significant update” to teen accounts yet, the social media site announced in a press release on Tuesday.
Under the new update, teens will see content on Instagram similar to what they might see in a PG-13 movie, which typically allows some swear words and violence. Instagram already blocks posts for teens that feature nudity, graphic images, and sexually suggestive content, but the platform is taking it a step further — it will now avoid recommending posts that include excessive profanity or risky stunts to teens. Anyone under 18 will automatically be placed into this safer PG-13 setting. If they want to opt out, they will need a parent’s permission.
“Just like you might see some suggestive content or hear some strong language in a PG-13 movie, teens may occasionally see something like that on Instagram — but we’re going to keep doing all we can to keep those instances as rare as possible,” Instagram wrote in the press release.
The PG-13 policy will roll out by the end of the year to teen accounts in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia.
One of Instagram’s new PG-13 features is age-gating: if an account regularly posts content that isn’t appropriate for teens, featuring adult themes or risky behavior, Instagram will prevent teen users from seeing that account, interacting with its posts, sending messages or viewing its comments.
If a business routinely posts content with alcohol, gambling, adult themes or stunts, Instagram will automatically stop teens from following, viewing or interacting with the account. Businesses targeting teens should ensure that their content meets the new safety standards or risk being blocked from teen audiences.
Instagram will also block teens from searching for sensitive topics, like alcohol or gore. The platform already has controls in place for search terms related to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.
Additionally, Instagram will start limiting the kinds of conversations teens can have with Meta’s AI chatbot. This means the AI will avoid sharing suggestive, explicit, or otherwise inappropriate material.
Meta commissioned a survey last month and found that 95% of U.S. parents of teens think these updated Instagram settings will be helpful.
Parents who want even tighter controls than the default PG-13 setting can switch their teen’s account to “Limited Content.” This more restrictive mode filters out additional types of content and stops teens from viewing, posting comments, or receiving comments on posts. Beginning in 2026, Instagram’s Limited Content setting will also restrict which types of AI conversations teens can have, further tightening safety controls across the app.
Instagram rolled out teen accounts last year and said the feature automatically adds built-in safety protections for younger users. That means teens get private accounts by default, can only get messages from people they already follow, have tougher restrictions on sensitive content and get reminders to log off after an hour each day. Additionally, the app goes into sleep mode between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., muting notifications.
In April, Instagram announced that it was using AI to spot teens who try to pass themselves off as adults, automatically putting those users into the age-appropriate teen account.
Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, was a guest on the October 14 edition of TODAY, where he discussed the app’s new policies for keeping teen users safe while using Instagram.
However, the wall of words social media uses to bust Instagram’s preventative algorithms featured during the interview just might have been the biggest takeaway.
In response to concerns about the impact of social media on the health and well-being of teens, Instagram is implementing new restrictions for teen accounts, including safety protocols and parental controls designed to limit teens’ exposure to sensitive topics.
According to Mosseri, Instagram’s criteria used for determining age-appropriate content for teens is guided by the PG-13 rating pioneered by the entertainment industry.
Mosseri told TODAY, “The goal is to create an experience that people and teens find valuable to help teens connect with their friends, to explore their interests… Our responsibility is to maximize positive experiences and minimize negative experiences.”
He said new safety features for teen accounts on Instagram can be accessed by both parents and kids. “We’ve got a lot of tools not just for parents, but for teens directly, that try and focus the experience on what’s more positive.”
During the interview, TODAY host Craig Melvin tossed to a giant wall on the TODAY Show set featuring a list of words they allege teens use to avoid penalization from Instagram.
Melvin listed some of the code words teens are using to access restricted content on the app for Mosseri. He said, “Tomato sauce means blood, accountant means sex worker… barcode means self-harm wounds and body dysmorphia.”
Other keywords on the wall of code words included glorp, l3mon, bonespo, and ouid. More recognizable words, presumably used to mean different things in other contexts, also made the list: candles, vitamins, camping, and snow.
He then pointed out that if teenagers know restrictions exist, they’ll invent ways to get around the rules. He asked Mosseri, “How do you fix this?”
Mosseri replied that teens and non-teens alike will try to circumvent policies if they want to. “People who want to circumvent our content policies, our rules are going to try to come up with code words that try to get around our detection,” he said. “Which is why for us the work never ends.”
He said the app will monitor connections among content and accounts so the data can inform system updates that make the platform “more and more safe over time.”
Some parents discussed Instagram’s new content restriction policies across social media. Many applauded the movie, with one sharing that it “should have always been this way.”
However, many offered their own suggestions and insults about the platform.
“Or parents just take it away! There’s no way to stop content. So just take the app away. Make it an 18+ plus thing. Better verification of age should be required,” said one.
“How about keep them off social media until high school?!? I promise. It’s doable,” added a commenter.
“One teeny tiny step that should’ve been there all along…not sure if I’ll ever trust tech’s ‘protective’ measures or intentions,” suggested an Instagram user.
Another summarized, saying, “It’s about time, but there are a lot of problems with Meta, period.”
