Meta Launches Facebook ‘Teen Accounts’ Globally
Meta has announced the global rollout of its “Teen Accounts” on Facebook and Messenger, extending protections for adolescent users aged 13 to 17 worldwide.
The accounts, first introduced on Instagram last year and later deployed in the US, Canada, Australia, and Britain, come with extra safety settings, content restrictions, and parental controls aimed at shielding teens from harmful interactions and overexposure online.
According to Meta, hundreds of millions of young users are already under these protections across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.
The company explained that the new restrictions are automatically enabled, limiting who teens can interact with, filtering the type of content they see, and encouraging healthier screen time. For users under 16, the protections cannot be disabled without parental consent.
The expansion follows rising global concern about the risks of social media for young people, including excessive screen time and unmoderated exposure to harmful content.
While tech companies continue to face scrutiny for their role in child safety online, this step by Meta represents an effort to address parents’ growing fears and give children a safer digital environment.
This development underscores the child’s right to protection from harmful materials, which requires states and, by extension, stakeholders to ensure that children have access to information that benefits their well-being, while being safeguarded from content that endangers their health, safety, or morals.
