Parent company Meta said it is building technology that proactively finds teen accounts that pretend to be grownups and automatically places them into the restricted teen accounts.

Instagram is making teen accounts private by default as it tries to make the platform safer for children amid a growing backlash against how social media affects young people's lives.

MENLO PARK, CA - Amid social media backlash over safeguards for young users, Instagram has announced it will be making teen accounts private. Starting this week, new Instagram users under 18 in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia will automatically have private accounts and existing teen accounts will transition to this default over the next 60 days. European teens will experience similar changes later this year. While Meta acknowledges that teenagers may lie about their age when signing up, the company says it plans to implement stricter age verification measures. Additionally, Meta is developing technology that will detect and restrict accounts pretending to be adults. In addition, teen accounts will face more stringent messaging restrictions, limiting messages to users they follow. "Sensitive content," such as violence or cosmetic procedure promotions, will also be restricted. Teens will also receive prompts if they spend more than 60 minutes on the app and will have access to a "sleep mode," which deactivates…