Instagram Teen Accounts Still Expose Minors to Harmful Content, Study Says

Researchers said only a few of the 47 safety features on Instagram are functioning as promised.

Instagram app on a smartphone, in this illustration taken on July 13, 2021. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

Children and teenagers on Instagram are still exposed to harmful content, despite the rollout of many safety tools, according to a study led by a Meta whistleblower.

Instagram introduced specialized teen accounts in 2024, promising stronger protections and expanded parental oversight. But the study, released Sept. 25, found that 30 of the 47 safety features on Instagram are either “substantially ineffective or no longer exist.”

The study was led by Arturo Béjar, a former senior Meta engineer who testified before Congress last year about how Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, handles online content aimed at children. The study also involved cybersecurity experts from New York University and Northeastern University, and other organizations focusing on children’s safety in online spaces.

Between March and June 2025, researchers created test accounts imitating the behavior of teenagers, their parents, and malicious adults seeking to interact with them.

Findings from the test accounts included that adults were able to message teenagers who did not follow them, even though teen accounts were supposed to block such contact. Meta fixed this particular issue after the study’s testing period, the researchers noted, but minors could still initiate conversations with adults through Reels, and it remains difficult to report sexualized or offensive messages.

The study also found that Instagram’s “hidden words” feature, which was intended to filter offensive language, did not function as promised. Testers were able to send hateful messages without being prompted to reconsider, and recipients received no warnings or filtering of the content.

The “not interested” feature also did not significantly alter the type of content recommended by Instagram’s algorithm, researchers said. In one test, after marking a series of Reels depicting graphic injuries as content they did not want to see, the accounts were nonetheless served additional videos of a similar nature.

Researchers also observed that several of Instagram’s time-management tools, designed to curb addictive use among young people, appeared to have been discontinued. Test accounts, for instance, did not receive the promised “nighttime nudges” after using the app for more than 10 minutes late at night. Nor did they receive reminders to turn on the “take a break” feature, despite Meta’s assurances that teens would be regularly prompted to do so. The only functioning safeguard researchers encountered was a time-limit reminder, but that could be snoozed for the rest of the day.

In total, the study concluded that 30 of Instagram’s 47 safety tools were either ineffective or no longer functioning. Nine were found to reduce harm but with significant limitations, and only eight of the 47 tools functioned as intended.

Perhaps more disturbing is that the researchers said they found evidence that children under 13 were not only present on the platform but were actively incentivized by its algorithms to engage in sexualized behavior, such as posting suggestive dances. In one example cited, a girl believed to be about 11 years old uploaded a video asking viewers to rate her attractiveness. The clip drew more than 50,000 comments, most of them calling her ugly.

“This is not about bad content on the internet, it’s about careless product design,” Béjar said in a statement. “Meta’s conscious product design and implementation choices are selecting, promoting, and bringing inappropriate content, contact, and compulsive use to children every day.

Meta disputed the findings, accusing the report of misrepresenting its tools and failing to understand how teens and parents actually use them.

“This report repeatedly misrepresents our efforts to empower parents and protect teens, misstating how our safety tools work and how millions of parents and teens are using them today,” a Meta spokesperson said in an email statement to The Epoch Times.

“The reality is teens who were placed into these protections saw less sensitive content, experienced less unwanted contact, and spent less time on Instagram at night. Parents also have robust tools at their fingertips, from limiting usage to monitoring interactions. We'll continue improving our tools, and we welcome constructive feedback–but this report is not that.”

Meta and other popular social media networks have come under intensified scrutiny over child safety in recent years. In January 2024, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other tech leaders faced criticism from U.S. senators and grieving parents, prompting Zuckerberg to apologize directly to families who said Instagram contributed to their children’s suicides or exploitation.

Since then, Meta has rolled out multiple child-protection features, including teen accounts, which were initially available only to users in the United States, the UK, Australia, and Canada.

Teen accounts expand parental oversight by allowing parents to monitor screen time and see who their children are messaging. They also require users aged 13 to 15 to obtain parental consent before changing safety settings, and use artificial intelligence tools to detect when users may be lying about their age. These accounts are subject to stricter privacy rules to limit unwanted contact with adults.

On Sept. 25, Meta announced the global expansion of teen accounts across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, automatically placing all teenage users under the same protective measures.

“Teen Accounts are designed to give parents peace of mind,” Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, said in a statement. “Supporting parents and helping teens use our apps safely is a responsibility we take seriously.”