What Instagram is doing about teen safety as Australia gears up to ban under-16s from social media without proof

With Australia gearing up to ban under-16s from using social media without real proof of age, the pressure is on platforms to show they’re ready.

From December, new rules will require age verification tools like facial recognition or ID uploads. A national trial is underway to figure out exactly how that might work, and while those details are still being ironed out, Instagram is putting forward some new safety features it says will better protect teens now.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Meta’s child safety chief addresses Australia’s social media age ban

The company recently hosted an Instagram Safety Camp in Sydney, an event for parents, creators, and youth wellbeing experts to explore the latest changes.

One of the biggest updates? Making it easier for teens to take action when something doesn’t feel right in their inbox.

“One of the big things we’re excited about is we’ve combined the ability to block and report someone into one simple button,” said Ravi Sinha, Global Head of Child Safety.

That streamlining is all about giving young users faster control and encouraging them to speak up when they encounter dodgy behaviour.

But age verification is still the missing piece. When asked why it hasn’t been built directly into the app, Sinha said:

“We require people to tell us their age when they sign up.” “We take steps to make sure they’re not telling us something that’s inaccurate.” “The truth is we can’t always get it right.”

That honesty sums up the challenge, but Instagram says it’s continuing to roll out tools that give teens more control.

What’s New for Teen Users

• Block + Report combo: You can now block and report someone in one tap.
• Safer DMs: Teens will see when someone joined Instagram, with safety tips and a block option pinned to the top of new chats.
• Extra protections for kid-focused accounts: Adult-managed profiles that represent children (like young creators) now get Teen Account safety settings by default.
• Suspicious accounts down-ranked: Adults flagged for concerning behaviour won’t be recommended to teens or show up in their searches.
• DM nudity filters: 99% of users are keeping these protections switched on, reducing exposure to unwanted content

Early Impact

While the new features are just launching, some of Instagram’s existing tools are showing results:

• In June, teens blocked more than 1 million accounts after seeing a safety notice
• Another 1 million were reported
• 1 in 10 clicked through a Location Notice to learn how to stay safer
• When shown a blurred image warning, people chose not to forward it 45% of the time

The platform also says it removed

• Around 135,000 accounts that were sexualising children’s profiles
• Over 500,000 linked accounts across Instagram and Facebook