How it works
Popular features include Direct Messaging, Reels (short videos), Stories (24-hour disappearing posts), and Live broadcasting. Users can apply ‘filters’ to their photos and videos to change the way they look and share their current location. A personalised feed shows content from followed accounts and advertisers. Adult users can pay a monthly subscription to remove adverts and stop their data being used for advertising.
Meta AI, a digital assistant, provides text chat, information, and image creation. For 18+ accounts, Meta uses public posts and AI interactions to train its models unless a user objects via the Privacy Centre.
Parental controls or safety settings available
Parents can use the Instagram Family Centre to set up Supervision. This enables them to:
• View who their child follows and who follows them
•See blocked accounts
• Receive notifications if their child reports content
• Set daily time limits
• Schedule Sleep Mode to mute notifications at night
• See who their child has messaged in the last seven days (without reading content)
• Manage whether their child can go Live (off by default for under-16s)
• Control their location sharing
Sensitive Content Control is defaulted to the most restrictive setting for all teenagers e.g. to block mature content.
