Meta has announced new parental controls that will let parents guide how teens use AI characters and chat features on its platforms. The tools will begin to roll out next year on Instagram first. Meta said the new settings will let parents turn off one-to-one chats with AI characters and block specific characters. They will also get limited insights about the topics their teens discuss with AI.
The move comes after public concern about how AI chat features can behave with young users. Regulators and child safety groups have pushed platforms to add stronger controls. Meta said it will limit teen interactions to age-appropriate content and follow a PG-13 standard for many experiences. The new controls are part of a wider update that includes time limits and changes to default teen account settings.
New parental controls
Parents will have a clear switch to stop their teen from using one-to-one chats with AI characters. Meta will keep its general-purpose AI assistant available for teens. That assistant will use age-appropriate safeguards by default. Parents who do not want to block all AI characters can block individual characters instead. Meta will also show parents simple information about the kinds of topics their teen has discussed with AI characters and with Meta AI. The company said the goal is to give enough context to help parents decide what steps to take without sharing full chat transcripts.
Meta will roll out these features on Instagram first and in English in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. The company said more languages and regions will follow. Meta also plans to expand tools for parents to set limits on how long teens can talk with AI characters. The timing for wider availability will vary by market.
What parents can do
Parents will be able to turn off one-to-one AI character chats. Parents will be able to block particular characters that they find worrying. Parents will be able to see general topics that their teen has been discussing with AI. Parents will be able to set time limits on AI chats in the teen account controls. Meta described these options as part of Teen Accounts and as additions to current safety tools that the company already uses to help detect underage users.
Why this matters
AI chat characters can be engaging and creative. They can also say things that worry parents or that are not suitable for younger users. Platforms that let AI talk with teens face higher scrutiny from families, regulators, and advocacy groups. Meta faces public pressure and legal scrutiny in several places. The company said these tools are part of a responsible approach to let families choose the level of AI interaction they prefer. Observers caution that controls are not a complete solution. They argue that safety requires clear policies, strong detection systems, and ongoing review.
How Meta frames age safety
Meta said that teen experiences will follow a PG-13 standard in the 13-plus default setting on Instagram. That change is meant to align social content for teens with levels that parents already know from movies and other media. Meta said it will hide content that falls outside that standard unless a parent chooses a different setting. The company also said it will keep pushing on technical tools to detect accounts that lie about age and to limit underage access to adult content.