Instagram is strengthening privacy and safety settings for teen accounts. Older teens can no longer opt out of stricter default settings without parental consent. Meta initially introduced these locked-down accounts a year ago, with similar measures now applied to Facebook and Messenger. AI tools are being used to identify underage users. These enhancements aim to address criticism that prior measures were insufficient to protect young users from unsafe content and unwanted messages. The platform will now prevent teens from seeing content from accounts regularly sharing age-inappropriate material. Instagram will also block a wider range of mature search terms, including misspellings. Content violating these rules will be blocked from teens' feeds and direct messages. Meta likens the new content standards to PG-13 movie ratings, though some restrictions are more severe. A new "limited content" setting will further restrict what teens can view and disable comments. Additionally, a parental reporting feature is being tested. These changes will gradually roll out in select countries before expanding.