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A logo of US company's Meta is displayed during the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair, at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, on May 22, 2024. Julien de Rosa, AFP/file

Article (news)

Jekki Pascual

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — Facebook parent firm Meta has revamped its Teen Accounts safety features to protect young users of Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.At its Screen Smart event in Makati, Meta Head of Safety Policy for Asia Pacific Malina Enlund said they have improved and added more safety nets in their Teen Accounts program, which covers all it social media and messaging apps.“Teen accounts is an automatic by default protection for all teens. Younger teens 13-15 [years old] are not able to change any of the settings without the permission of the parent. Older teens that are 16-17 [years old] and have more autonomy or independence, they’re able to have a conversation with their parents and try and change some of the settings themselves,” Enlund explained.Gio Tingson, head of public policy for Meta Philippines, added that they want teens to still enjoy the benefits of social media, but with limitations.“We are giving Filipino parents greater peace of mind that their teens are interacting with age-appropriate content.”Teen Accounts was launched last year and more features have been added this year. Some of the features include following the movie ratings criteria for content like a PG-13 rating for videos, for example.Teen accounts are also private accounts by default, which means no one can see their content or interact with them unless the teen accepts them as follower.“Only adults connected to the teen already can message them. Strangers cannot message teens by default,” she added.Enlund said those under Teen Accounts will have time limit reminders and sleep mode enabled at night. This ensures the teens can only use social media at a time allowed by parents.Meta however admitted that verifying the age is a big challenge. Hence they have integrated AI to help check, but also said they need help from government and civil society groups.“Many teens around the world do not have IDs, that is why we also have face prediction models… If our classifier determines later on that there’s something wrong like they’re celebrating their 12th birthday but they’re saying they’re 13, you will be sent to the same verification flow,” she added.Various government agencies and civil society groups welcome the developments, but said more needs to be done to fully protect the children from harmful content, misinformation posts, and cyber crime.

Facebook parent firm Meta has revamped its Teen Accounts safety features to protect young users of Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.

Facebook parent firm Meta has revamped its Teen Accounts safety features to protect young users of Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.

Meta revamps Teen Accounts of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger

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Meta revamps Teen Accounts of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger

Jekki Pascual,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 18, 2026 05:04 PM PHT

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