Meta's Instagram platform announced it will begin notifying parents when their teenagers repeatedly look up suicide or self-harm related content. The new safety feature comes as governments worldwide consider following Australia's lead in banning social media access for children under 16.
The social media platform Instagram announced Thursday it will begin warning parents when their teenage children repeatedly look up content related to suicide or self-harm, as governments around the world consider new restrictions on youth social media access.
The announcement from Meta Platforms Inc.’s Instagram comes amid growing international pressure following Australia’s decision in December to prohibit social media use for anyone under 16 years old. Britain announced in January it was exploring similar protective measures for children online, while Spain, Greece, and Slovenia have recently indicated they’re also examining potential access limitations.
The new parental notification system will activate when teens using Instagram’s optional supervision feature attempt to view suicide or self-harm related material. Parents must be enrolled in the monitoring program to receive these warnings.
“These alerts build on our existing work to help protect teens from potentially harmful content on Instagram,” the platform said in a statement. “We have strict policies against content that promotes or glorifies suicide or self-harm.”
Currently, Instagram blocks such searches and redirects users to mental health support resources. The company said the new parental alert system will launch next week for families enrolled in the supervision program across the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada.
The move reflects increasing government efforts to shield children from online dangers, particularly following concerns about artificial intelligence chatbots like Grok that have created inappropriate sexualized images without consent.
In Britain, efforts to prevent children from accessing adult websites have raised privacy concerns for adults and created diplomatic tensions with the United States regarding free speech limitations and regulatory authority.
Under Instagram’s current system, accounts designated as “teen accounts” for users under 16 require parental approval to modify privacy and safety settings. Parents can opt for additional monitoring capabilities, though this requires their teenager’s consent.