Instagram is strengthening teen online safety with a new parental alert system designed to flag repeated searches related to suicide or self-harm.

Owned by Meta Platforms, the platform will first roll out the feature in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, with additional regions expected to follow later this year.

How Instagram's Parental Supervision Alerts Function

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According to the BBC, the new safety feature expands on Instagram's 2024 teen account protections and applies to families enrolled in the platform's optional parental supervision tools. Both parents and teens must provide consent before supervision is activated.

Once enabled, parents can monitor the accounts their teenager follows, set daily screen time limits, and now receive alerts tied to concerning search behavior.

If a teen repeatedly searches for phrases associated with suicide or self-harm within a short period, parents will receive notifications via in-app alerts, email, text message, or WhatsApp, depending on their selected contact preferences. Instagram will also provide expert-backed mental health resources to guide supportive conversations and encourage early intervention.

Suicide and Self-Harm Content Moderation Policy

Instagram maintains a strict content moderation policy that blocks direct access to suicide and self-harm material. When users search for related keywords, they are redirected to crisis helplines and verified mental health support resources instead of harmful content, per CNET.

The new parental alert system is useful so parents can be notified easily if their kids are searching for stuff related to sensitive topics like suicide and self-harm.

While Instagram's initiative to protect young users is commendable, it still cannot deny the fact that Meta might be targeting teens through its addictive design.

According to TechTimes' early report, plaintiffs argued that the app's design was made for teens to increase their time spent. Studies said that there were negative effects in this regard.

Originally published on Tech Times