Instagram is tightening its safety rules for teenage users. The platform will now show only PG-13-rated content by default for anyone under 18. This means teens will no longer see posts with sexual nudity, extreme violence, or graphic drug use. The change is part of a wider push to strengthen Instagram teen safety across the platform.
Teens won’t be able to change this setting on their own. To adjust it, a parent or guardian must give permission through Instagram’s supervision tools.
Instagram is also adding a stricter Limited Content filter. When this is turned on, teens won’t see or comment on posts marked as sensitive.
Starting next year, similar filters will apply to chats with AI bots. Teens won’t be able to message bots that share or discuss restricted topics. Instagram said these AI content rules are already in place for some conversations.
This shift follows growing legal pressure on tech companies over teen safety. OpenAI and Character.AI, for example, are facing lawsuits claiming their chatbots caused psychological harm. In response, OpenAI limited ChatGPT use for minors and trained the model to avoid “flirtatious” talk. Character.AI also introduced new parental controls earlier this year.
Instagram has been building similar protections for a while. The platform already limits what teens can find through search, DMs, and recommendations. Now, it’s going even further. Teens won’t be able to follow or interact with accounts that share age-inappropriate material. Those accounts will also vanish from suggestions and search results.
Instagram is also blocking messages that expose teens to explicit or violent content in direct messages. The company already hides posts related to self-harm or eating disorders. Soon, it will add more words to the blocked list, including “alcohol” and “gore.” Instagram says it will also catch creative misspellings of these terms so teens can’t bypass filters.
To help parents stay involved, Instagram is testing a new flagging system. Parents can now report posts they think are unsuitable for teens. A review team will check these reports before taking further action.
These updates will roll out first in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada, starting today. A global rollout will follow next year.
