Meta introduces Insta Teen Accounts for parental supervision in Sri Lanka

Meta has announced the activation of Teen Accounts for Instagram in Sri Lanka at a recent special event held at the Ministry of Digital Economy.

The meeting was held under the patronage of Deputy Minister of Digital Economy, Eranga Weeraratne.

Issuing a statement in this regard, the Ministry of Digital Economy said that the Meta team demonstrated that the teen account supervision tools for Instagram provide parents with enhanced oversight of their children’s activity on the platform.

Reportedly, the new feature is designed for children aged 13 to 17, empowering parents and guardians to create safer digital environments through a set of intuitive controls.

Key features include:

• Access limited to pre-approved contacts

• Restricted messaging capabilities

• Parental control over access to sensitive content

• Interaction limitations

• The ability to set daily screen time limits

The introduction of supervised teen accounts marks a key step forward in addressing online safety concerns for young users in Sri Lanka, offering parents and guardians the tools they need to foster a safer and more age-appropriate social media experience, according to the statement.

Meta also announced that the parental supervision capability will soon extend to other platforms such as Facebook and Messenger. 

During the discussion, particular attention was paid to Sri Lanka’s digital transformation journey. Both the Ministry and Meta emphasized the importance of aligning with international standards in internet governance and the forthcoming implementation of Sri Lanka’s data protection framework, the statement added.

Meta’s Director of Public Policy for South and Central Asia, Sarim Aziz, highlighted the company’s continued investment in artificial intelligence, noting a global investment of USD 75 billion into AI infrastructure.

He further shared that Meta’s open-sourced Large Language Model, Llama, has surpassed 1.2 billion downloads globally, with more than one billion users currently accessing Meta AI-powered features free of charge, it said.

Also in attendance were Mr. Sumudu Rathnayake, Advisor to the Ministry; Mr. Senura Abeywardena, Head of Public Policy for Central Asia and Sri Lanka at Meta; Ms. Tehara Punchihewa, Associate Manager of Public Policy, South Asia at Meta; and other key stakeholders.