Campaigners warn that Instagram poses serious risks for children.
Tony Smith and Angus Crawford
BBC News Investigations
Getty Images
Young Instagram users could still be exposed to “serious risks” even if they use new Teen Accounts brought in to provide more protection and control, research by campaigners suggests.
Researchers behind a new report have said they were able to set up accounts using fake birthdays and they were then shown sexualised content, hateful comments, and recommended adult accounts to follow.
Meta, which owns Instagram, says the report is “filled with inaccuracies and demonstrates a misunderstanding” of the Teen Accounts, and that parents “find these new protections helpful”.
The research, from online child safety charity 5Rights Foundation, is released as Ofcom, the UK regulator, is about to publish its children’s safety codes.
They will outline the rules platforms will have to follow under the Online Safety Act. Platforms will then have three months to show that they have systems in place which protect children.
That includes robust age checks, safer algorithms which don’t recommend harmful content, and effective content moderation.
Instagram Teen Accounts were set up in September 2024 to offer new protections for children and to create what Meta called “peace of mind for parents”.
The new accounts were designed to limit who could contact users and reduce the amount of content young people could see.
Existing users would be transferred to the new accounts and those signing up for the first time would automatically get one.
But researchers from 5Rights Foundation were able to set up a series of fake Teen Accounts using false birthdays, with no additional checks by the platform.
They found that immediately on sign up they were offered adult accounts to follow and message.
Instagram’s algorithms, they claim, “still promote sexualised imagery, harmful beauty ideals and other negative stereotypes”.
The researchers said their Teen Accounts were also recommended posts “filled with significant amounts of hateful comments”.
The charity also had concerns about the addictive nature of the app and exposure to sponsored, commercialised content.
Baroness Beeban Kidron founder of 5Rights Foundation said: “This is not a teen environment. They are not checking the age of users, and they recommend adults. They put them into commercial situations without telling them, and it is deeply sexualised. Meta said that the report is “full of inaccuracies” and “demonstrates a misunderstanding of how Teen Accounts works, which we could clarify if
shared the report with our team”.
“Fundamentally changing Instagram for tens of millions of teens around the world is a big undertaking, and we know we will need to work tirelessly to get it right and bring parents peace of mind. “[5Rights Foundation]UK Parliament
Baroness Beeban Kidron founder of 5Rights Foundation
In a separate development BBC News has also learned about the existence of groups dedicated to self-harm on X.
The groups or “communities”, as they are known on the platform, contain tens of thousands of members sharing graphic images and videos of self-harm.
Some of the users involved in the groups appear to be children.
Becca Spinks, an American researcher who discovered the groups, said: “I was absolutely floored to see 65,000 members of a community. It was so graphic that people were taking polls about where to cut next. “
X has been approached to comment but failed to respond.
But, in a submission made to an Ofcom Consultation last year, X stated: “We have rules in place that protect the safety and security of the service as well as the users.” “
In the UK, X has committed to complying to the Online Safety Act,” the company added. Sign up for our newsletter.
