Instagram will notify parents when their supervised teenagers repeatedly search for suicide or self-harm content starting next week. The alerts roll out first in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada through email, text messages, WhatsApp or in-app notifications.
Parents receive warnings when teens search during a short period for phrases promoting suicide or self-harm, terms suggesting self-injury intent, or keywords like "suicide" and "self-harm." The system does not disclose specific search terms, only that a teen attempted to find content in those categories.
When triggered, Instagram also shows teens a screen directing them to crisis resources including the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Meta calls the approach "the right starting point" as it determines appropriate thresholds for sending alerts. The company acknowledges parents may receive notifications that don't indicate genuine concern but says it will continue refining based on feedback.
Both parent and teen accounts must have supervision already activated through Meta's Family Center tools for the feature to work, a limitation critics note excludes families who haven't opted into the system. The parental notification system expands later this year to additional regions.
Meta also plans similar alerts "for certain AI experiences" that would notify guardians if teens attempt conversations about suicide or self-harm with company chatbots.
This matches development of a new powerful AI model codenamed Avocado scheduled for release later this year.
Instagram's announcement arrives during multiple legal proceedings examining Meta's child safety record. Company executives face questioning in California, New Mexico and West Virginia courts about whether platform design prioritizes growth over youth mental health.
Internal messages revealed in newly unsealed filings show employees discussing approximately 7.5 million annual child sexual abuse material reports that would no longer be disclosed after CEO Mark Zuckerberg's 2019 decision to implement default end-to-end encryption on Messenger. "There goes our CSER numbers next year," one employee wrote in December 2023 according to court documents.
The National Parent Teacher Association recently declined to renew its funding relationship with Meta citing ongoing legal challenges around digital safety for children. Earlier this year Google and Character.AI reached settlement agreements with families who sued over minor suicides allegedly linked to artificial intelligence chatbots.
Instagram introduced stricter default safety settings last year for all users under 18 and rolled out dedicated Teen Accounts. The platform developed its latest alert system with input from its Suicide and Self-Harm Advisory Group studying how people discuss sensitive topics online.
