What is Instagram?

Instagram is a social media platform owned by Meta. It focuses primarily on images and video content, with users unable to make text-only posts like those common on Facebook and X. Other users can then comment on and share these posts.

In addition to video and image posts, Instagram’s features also include:

• Explore page: a personalised feed of content that is recommended based on other accounts and content that you have interacted with.
• Reels: similar to TikTok, reels are an endless feed of short videos.
• Stories: posts that disappear after 24 hours
• Instagram LIVE: users can livestream to others and receive comments from these viewers
• DMs: users can privately message each other and create group chats with multiple users
• Location sharing: users can share their live location with followers and view others locations.

Minimum age rating

Like most social media platforms, Instagram requires users to be 13 or older to use the platform. Additionally, those aged 13-16 benefit from safety-by-design features. For example, when a child in this age range joins Instagram, they automatically have a private account.

Letting your child use the platform before they are old enough leaves them open to the risk of harm. This is because they will need to lie about their age, potentially using their parents instead. As such, they do not benefit from those default settings.

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Yes, Instagram is likely to be included in the announced social media ban. While the UK government has yet to announce the full list, they have already named Instagram. 

We are currently waiting to hear details about the social media ban to know what this looks like in practise. Until the ban happens, make sure you set parental controls to keep your child safer online. 

Instagram lets users connect with others, find communities with similar interests and explore creative ways to express themselves. However, not all content is appropriate for every user. Like any social media platform, there are risks to consider.

Communication with strangers

When someone posts a picture or video on their public profile, anyone can interact with it. Your child can comment on content or respond to others’ comments, even if they don’t know the person offline.

In most cases, these interactions are harmless. However, some strangers might seek to harm, so it’s important to limit this risk.

Ensure your child has a private profile and customise their communication settings to stay safe.

Instagram formerly had end-to-end encryption for direct messages, but this feature was recently removed. This allows Instagram to detect harmful messages in chats, potentially improving safety. However, some children may move to apps such as Telegram that feature encryption, which have far less moderation and safety settings than Instagram.

Have regular conversations with your child about the apps they use so you can stay informed if they begin using less moderated messaging apps.

Inappropriate or unwanted content

Instagram’s algorithm ‘learns’ from the actions its users take as well as their demographics. This helps to suggest new content a user might like. For example, if someone watches and likes a lot of cat videos, they will receive suggestions for more cat videos.

However, this can sometimes lead to content they don’t want to see. Sometimes, influencers will grow their followers based on one type of content but then share a different type of content. For example, a lot of followers of Andrew Tate say they enjoy his fitness and finance content. However, he also shares a lot of misogynistic content. So, those looking for fitness content might accidentally get caught up in the misogynistic content as well.

You can help your child customise their feed to limit unwanted content. Adding hidden words is just one way to do this.

Spending too much time scrolling

nstagram is part of Meta, alongside Facebook, WhatsApp, and Threads. Users can view content previews from the other platforms in their feed, prompting them to sign up. They can also reshare content across the other platforms

This can cause prolonged engagement on the platform.

Instagram uses what’s called persuasive design. This is where a platform uses techniques to keep users engaged on the platform. One of the biggest elements of this for Instagram is the endless auto-scroll feature which automatically advances the feed when the current video finishes.

Because users can keep scrolling to reveal new content, users can accidentally spend hours engaging with content. So, if your teen uses Instagram, make sure you set up screen time limits so they receive regular reminders to take breaks.

AI chatbots

Instagram has AI chatbots on the platform that users can message in the same way they message friends. Users can ask questions, get advice or chat about a range of topics. The chatbots have distinct personalities, with some modelled as celebrities, coaches or fictional characters.

Like most generative AI, Instagram’s chatbots can sometimes share misinformation or provide incorrect answers. They can also blur reality, as they give human-like responses and appear in the same messaging section as real friends. This could result in children viewing them as real friends or companions.

Learn more about Meta AI.

Location sharing

Your Instagram location may be more visible than you think. There have been cases of users unknowingly activating live location and exposing their home address. Instagram has location tags on stories and posts, and live location via the Map feature. In addition to managing your child’s location and privacy settings, remind them to think before sharing their live location and to stay alert to any location requests from strangers.

To help make Instagram safer for under-18s, Meta provides various options for parents and young people.

What are Teen accounts, and how do they keep children safe?

Instagram automatically applies Teen Accounts to all users aged 13-17, turning on privacy and safety features by default. These include:

• AI-powered age detection to catch users misrepresenting their age
• Making the account private
• Only being able to message accounts they follow
• Sensitive content restrictions
• Age-appropriate content settings, modelled on 13+ movie ratings
• Filtering out offensive language
• Time limit reminders to prevent excessive screen time
• Alerting parents if their teen regularly searches for self-harm content
• Supervising AI conversations
• Disabling AI characters

Teens 16 and older can switch off most settings themselves. Teens under 16 will need a parent’s permission to adjust the default protections.

Learn how to manage your child’s teen account in our parental controls guide.

Instagram Family Centre

Family Centre is a tool available for parents within Instagram’s settings. It lets parents supervise their teen’s account to help them:

• balance their screen time;
• manage who they communicate with;
• customise their profile settings for safety.

While you cannot oversee everything they do, these supervision tools serve as a great way to start conversations.

General safety settings

Instagram offers a range of safety settings available to all users. These include:

• Private profiles;
• Close Friends groups;
• Restricted, muted and blocked accounts;
• Hidden words;
• Limited notifications.

There are others on top of these settings, which we recommend reviewing with your teen to keep them safe.