Approximately seven months after its introduction in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, from Today – Thursday 9 April 2026 – also arrives in Italy a revolutionary update for the accounts 13+ on Instagram. Simply put, the teenagers under 18 years old registered with social networks Of Half from today they will have a use of the application comparable to watching a film with the 13+ filter. The Menlo Park giant, in fact, has decided to take inspiration from the criteria of MPA (Motion Picture Association) – the body that evaluates films in the USA – to filter the contents of theappshowing teenagers what they would see in a film calibrated for their age. In addition to the contents already limited by the previous policy – such as sexually suggestive ones, the explicit images, violent And disturbingin addition to the promotion of tobacco And alcohol – 13+ accounts will hide (or, alternatively, not recommend) posts containing vulgar language, challenges considered risky or other content that could push you to behaviors “potentially harmful”, such as the promotion of marijuana paraphernalia.
Interestingly, Meta, in its original post published on October 14, 2025 (when the new 13+ accounts were introduced in English-speaking countries), specified that it did not work directly with the MPA, nor did it have the MPA evaluate Instagram content to determine its classification. Simply, he decided to take inspiration from their policy, which is strong and well established for that age group. In support of the initiative, Meta also involved numerous parents showing a series of real content (posted on Instagram) in order to make them evaluate them as appropriate or inappropriate for their children. This has further limited the content accessible to teenagers. “According to a recent survey conducted by Ipsos and commissioned by Meta, 95% of U.S. parents of teens believe these updated settings will be helpful, and 90% said they will make it easier to understand the types of content their teens might view on Instagram,” Meta wrote in its original statement.
The new 13+ accounts will not limit themselves to not offering or recommending certain contents, but will actually change the experience of the application. In fact, from today in Italy teenagers will no longer be able to follow the account who post content that is inappropriate for their age; also the biography and the name of the account will be filtering elements. For teens who already follow these accounts, the content will no longer be available visiblenor will it be possible to interact, read comments of other users or send messages. The filter will be two-way: these “adult” accounts will not be able to follow teenagers, send them messages or comment on their posts. The search was also limited: in addition to the blocking of sensitive terms such as those linked to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, Meta explains that terms linked to violence and alcohol are now also involved. Furthermore, the filter will also recognize any attempts to bypass via spelling errors.
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In this regard, teenagers who try to sign up with an adult profile will have to deal with an algorithm artificial intelligence based on big data, able to understand if the user is a minor and activate a automated blocking on adult content. The filters embrace any type of path: come on Reels al Feedsas well as Stories and private messages, where inappropriate links will become unclickable. Even conversations withartificial intelligence they have been remodeled to avoid inappropriate responses for an adolescent.
In addition, Meta stated that since not all families are the same and these restrictions may not be enough, an even more filtered mode has been introduced called “Limited contents“, in which not only an even more restrictive filter is activated, but the possibility of interacting with posts and profiles is also completely blocked. Meta underlines that some borderline content could still pass through despite the 13+ filter on the account, a bit like what happens with certain 13+ films that show scenes not entirely suitable for that age group, but work is being done to make the filter increasingly effective, in order to show only suitable content. Clearly, teenagers will not be able to change the settings without the consent of a parent. This is a significant update to protect the minors for the famous one photography application of Meta, recently ordered to pay by a Los Angeles court 4.2 million dollars to a girl who claimed to have developed an addiction to the social network due to the way it was designed. The court also convicted Google to the payment of 1.8 million dollars.
