News

Meta Unveils Upcoming Parental Controls for Teen Interactions with AI

Cansin Cengiz

17 Oct 2025 — 2 min read

Meta Introduces New Parental Controls for AI Chat Experiences

Meta has announced a suite of upcoming parental control features designed to give parents more oversight of how teens interact with AI characters across its platforms, including Instagram. These controls aim to address growing concerns about teen safety and mental health as AI becomes more integrated into social media experiences.

Key Features of the New Parental Controls

Full Chat Restrictions: Parents will soon be able to disable all AI character chats for their teens. This gives families the option to shut off AI-based conversations entirely if desired.
Selective Character Blocking: For more granular control, parents can block specific AI characters rather than all at once, allowing selective access based on family preferences.
Topic Monitoring: Parents will receive information about the types of topics their teens are discussing with AI characters and Meta’s general-purpose AI chatbot, ensuring transparency.
Time Limits: Additional options will allow parents to set time restrictions on how long teens can interact with AI features.

Importantly, while parents can turn off individual AI chats, the Meta AI chatbot itself will remain accessible but will only respond to age-appropriate topics. These features are expected to roll out on Instagram in early 2026 and will initially be available in English in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia.

Meta’s Commitment to Teen Safety

Meta emphasizes its responsibility to support parents: “We recognize parents already have a lot on their plates when it comes to navigating the internet safely with their teens, and we’re committed to providing them with helpful tools and resources that make things simpler for them, especially as they think about new technology like AI.”

This initiative follows Meta’s recent decision to apply a PG-13 standard to content and AI experiences for teens, filtering out sensitive subjects such as violence, nudity, and drug use. Currently, teens can only interact with a limited, curated set of AI characters that comply with age-appropriate guidelines.

Industry-Wide Shift Toward Teen Protection

Meta's move comes amid an industry-wide focus on teen safety in digital spaces:

OpenAI and YouTube have both released enhanced parental control features and age restrictions on their platforms.
Instagram has deployed AI to detect users who may be misrepresenting their age to bypass platform restrictions.

These actions respond to increasing scrutiny about the potential risks of social media and AI on adolescent mental health, as well as legal challenges that allege tech platforms have contributed to harmful outcomes for young users.

Looking Ahead

As AI becomes a more prominent feature in social media, parental involvement and platform accountability are becoming essential. Meta’s new controls represent a step forward in empowering families to guide and safeguard their teens’ online experiences.