• by Colin Kirkland , July 25, 2025

Among other teen-focused safety features, Meta is especially focused on adult-run Instagram accounts that feature photos and videos of children under the age of 13. 

“While these accounts are overwhelmingly used in benign ways, unfortunately there are people who may try to abuse them, leaving sexualized comments under their posts or asking for sexual images in DMs, in clear violation of our rules,” Meta explains. 

To address the issue, Meta is automatically applying its strictest message settings to help prevent unwanted messages, while also turning on “Hidden Words,” a tool that filters potentially offensive comments. 

“We’ll show these accounts a notification at the top of their Instagram Feed, letting them know we’ve updated their safety settings, and prompting them to review their account privacy settings too,” Meta adds. “These changes will roll out in the coming months.”

Despite Meta’s claim that adult-run accounts featuring children are typically “benign,” the company was accused of knowingly allowing some of these accounts on Instagram and Facebook to sexually exploit children in 2023. In one instance, an account claiming to be a 13-year-old girl amassed over 6,700 followers, most of whom were adult males.

The lawsuit also accused the Meta platform of allowing users “to search for, like, share, and sell a crushing volume of [child sexual abuse material]." Investigations by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal suggested that Instagram’s recommendation algorithms promoted networks of pedophiles. 

By expanding teen online safety features to adult-run accounts featuring children, Meta says it is addressing parents and talent managers who often post images of underage people. As a result of continued abuse, the company will now “avoid recommending” these accounts to suspicious adults “and vice versa.”

Meta says it will also make it more difficult for suspicious adults to find each other in Search, while hiding their comments, adding that the changes build off an earlier update of disallowing accounts featuring children to offer subscriptions or receive gifts.