Meta Launches Teen Accounts for Facebook and Messenger—Here’s What That Means (2025)

Months after launching Teen Accounts on Instagram, Meta is rolling out similar protections on Facebook and Messenger to try and keep teens using those platforms safer and give parents peace of mind.

Starting on April 8, 2025, teens will automatically be placed under the Teen Account experience on both Facebook and Messenger. Like on Instagram, teens under 16 will need parent or caregiver permission to change any of those settings into less restrictive ones.

“We wanted to make sure that we were bringing the same experience from Instagram to Facebook and Messenger,” Tara Hopkins, Global Director of Public Policy at Instagram, tells Parents.

Here’s the breakdown of what parents can expect from Teen Accounts on Facebook and Messenger.

What Are Facebook and Messenger Teen Accounts?

The protections are similar to those that have been rolled out on Instagram. Here's what they look like:

• Private accounts. Teens will automatically be placed into private account settings. This means there will be limitations on who can view their content, see their profile information, and more.
• Stricter messaging settings. Teens will only be able to receive messages from people they follow or have messaged with before.
• Interactions will be limited. Only friends will be able to see and reply to stories. Tags, mentions, and comments will be limited to people they follow or are friends with.
• Restrictions on sensitive content. Content that is not age-appropriate will be limited.
• Reminders and sleep mode. There will be reminders for teens to leave Facebook after 60 minutes a day. Teens will also automatically be enrolled into quiet mode overnight.

Meta is also expanding its protections for Teen Accounts on Instagram. Within the next couple of months, teens under 16 won’t be allowed to go live unless they have permission from their parents. Plus, the platform will start blurring images with suspected nudity in direct messages (DMs), and they’ll need parental permission to turn that off.

Dangers on Facebook and Messenger

Once the dominant social media platform, Facebook is now typically used by millennials and older people. Facebook use among teens decreased from 71% in 2014-2015 to 32% in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center. It's probably not a surprise that teens are more likely to be on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. But this doesn’t mean that teens who use Facebook and Messenger don’t need protections.

“If a kid is on Facebook, there will be more adults than peers, which presents greater dangers of online predation,” shares Titania Jordan, Chief Parenting Officer + CMO atBark, a company aiming to protect kids online. “But aside from that, Facebook is similar to any other social media in terms of the hazards it presents to teens and tweens. Things like exposure to inappropriate content, chatting with strangers, potential grooming, cyberbullying, addictive algorithms, and more are present.”

Keep in mind, Facebook users must be 13 and above to create an account.

“Some parents may think it’s OK to let their kids have a Facebook account in lieu of a more popular app like Snapchat or Instagram,” adds Jordan. “The content and people you are trying to protectthem from are absolutely on Facebook as well.”

Are Teen Accounts Helping?

Since Instagram Teen Accounts launched, 54 million teens have been moved into the restrictive settings. And 97% of those ages 13 to 15 have kept the protections on, according to Meta.

“It's not changing the experience that teens are having on Instagram. Teens do love Instagram, and we don't want that to change,” says Hopkins. “But we do want them, and importantly their parents, to know that when they're using Instagram, they are in our most protective settings, and they can't change them unless they bring the parent into the approval process.”

As a mom of a 12- and 15-year-old, Hopkins knows how tough it can be for parents to keep up with and monitor all the apps their kids are using, while also completing their long parenting to-do list.

“The thing I'm most proud of is that we have automatically placed all of these teens into the Teen Account experience, and taken that burden a bit away from parents,” she says.

Most U.S. parents feel these protections are making a difference. In a recent Meta survey, conducted by Ipsos, 94% of parents believe Teen Accounts are helpful, while 85% believe the protections enable teens to have a positive Instagram experience.

More Issues to Tackle

Many parents are still struggling to talk with their kids about social media use. Meta's survey of 1,000 U.S. parents of teens, ages 13-17, found 26% of caregivers 45 and older “find it hard to talk to their teen about social media because it doesn’t seem like a big deal.” Eighteen percent of younger parents said the same. Older parents are also less likely to know what issues to discuss. But experts say having ongoing conversations about a teen's experience on social media and teaching them to build healthy digital habits is critical.

It's important to note that age verification is also still an issue. This is something Jordan has previously pointed out, explaining that teens can simply sign up for platforms with a false birthdate.

Instagram and Facebook do ask for an age upon signing up, and both require verification if it's attempted to be changed. Meta says it's also developing technology to find teens who may have misstated their age in the past.

But Hopkins acknowledges that age verification is a big challenge, and believes an industry-wide approach would be helpful.For example, she points to Utah Governor Spencer Cox,who recently signed a first-of-its-kind bill requiring Apple and Google's mobile app stores to verify user ages and require parental permission for minors downloading certain apps. If age information were then shared with Meta, Hopkins believes it would make all the difference.

"If we have an industry-wide approach to age, honestly, I think in the long term, it's just going to really benefit parents," she says.