Instagram will soon notify parents if their teens repeatedly search for terms related to suicide or self-harm within a short period of time.
The social media platform announced the new safety feature on Thursday and said it will begin rolling out in the coming weeks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
Instagram claimed the majority of teens do not try to search for this type of content, but when they do, the app already blocks those searches and directs teens to resources and helplines. Now, it says the feature will also give parents access to expert resources intended to help them approach sensitive conversations with their children.
“These alerts are designed to make sure parents are aware if their teen is repeatedly trying to search for this content, and to give them the resources they need to support their teen,” the company said in a blog post.
The alerts arrive as social media companies face growing scrutiny over their impact on young users’ mental health and safety. Instagram’s parent company, Meta, is currently tied up in multiple legal battles. One trial underway in Los Angeles centers on accusations that the company’s platforms are intentionally addictive for children. Another case in New Mexico is examining whether Meta failed to protect kids from sexual exploitation.
Governments around the world are also tightening regulations. Australia has begun enforcing a ban on social media accounts for children under 16. In the United Kingdom, regulators now require certain platforms to implement age-verification checks. The push follows enforcement of the U.K.’s Online Safety Act last year, which increases legal pressure on platforms to protect children from pornography and harmful content tied to self-harm, suicide, and eating disorders.
The new alerts are the latest addition to Instagram’s expanding suite of teen safety tools. In 2022, the company launched parental supervision features that allow parents to monitor how much time their teen spends on the app, set limits, view who they follow and who follows them, and receive alerts if a teen reports inappropriate behavior. In 2024, Instagram introduced Teen Accounts, which limit the content teens can access, as well as who can contact them.
For the new alerts to work, both the parent and teen accounts must have Instagram’s supervision settings enabled. The notifications will be sent via email, text message, WhatsApp, or in-app alerts, depending on the contact information available.
Instagram said it worked with experts to determine how frequently alerts should be sent, noting that sending too many notifications could make them less useful. The company settled on triggering alerts after several searches within a short period.
“While that means we may sometimes notify parents when there may not be real cause for concern, we feel — and experts agree — that this is the right starting point, and we’ll continue to monitor and listen to feedback to make sure we’re in the right place,” the company said.
Instagram also said it is working on similar protections for its AI chatbots that would alert parents if teens engage in conversations related to suicide or self-harm.
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