Meta rolls out expansive new parental controls for Instagram and Messenger

Meta is launching a suite of new parental controls for both Instagram and Messenger, the company announced on Tuesday. The new tools give parents the ability to see how much time their child is spending on Messenger, as well as gain more insight into how well their teen really knows the people they’re following on Instagram (and who follows them).

The company says parents and guardians can now check into their child’s Messenger contacts list, along with their privacy and safety settings from the Meta Family Center. Parents will also get notified if their child reports someone on the app — so long as their teen enabled that setting, in addition to seeing who can and can’t message them.

On Instagram, parents can expect similar updates. That includes a new way to see how many friends their child has in common with whoever they’re following, along with whoever follows them. This could help parents monitor whether their teen is in contact with strangers. Meta says teens will also now receive a prompt when they block someone, which will suggest allowing a parent to supervise their accounts.

In addition to these features, Meta is testing a new safeguard for its messaging system on Instagram. If a user wants to message someone that doesn’t follow them on the app, they would have to ask for their permission to connect with them. Meta is also trying out a new notification on Instagram that recommends that teens close the app if they’re browsing through Reels at night.