Parents
Staying Safe on Instagram
Keeping your child safe online
Setting privacy and safety controls
Instagram allows your child to connect with friends and influencers, and share photos and videos. What they post, see and interact with can influence how they think and feel. Understanding how Instagram works, the risks involved and the controls available can help you guide your child towards a safer online experience.
How can Instagram’s feed affect your child?
Your child’s Instagram feed is personalised. It learns from what they like, follow, comment on and watch, and shows more similar content that it thinks your child likes.
Even though Instagram has safety settings for younger users, your child may still come across content that:
Pressures them to look or act a certain way
Spreads harmful or misleading information
Involves cyberbullying, harassment or hurtful comments
Comes from impersonation accounts pretending to be someone your child knows
If content on Instagram starts to affect your child’s mood or behaviour, it may be time to review their settings with them.
What are Instagram’s default protections for younger users?
The minimum age to create an Instagram account in Singapore is 13 years old. However, some public content may be accessible without an account.
Teen Accounts are Instagram accounts for users aged 13 to 17. Some privacy and safety settings are turned on by default for these accounts to give younger users extra protection.
Settings to encourage healthy screen habits
Push notifications are muted daily from 10pm to 7am
A reminder to close Instagram appears after a total of 60 minutes is spent on it each day
Settings to limit interactions with strangers
Teen accounts are set to private by default
Only people your child follows or has connected with can message them directly
Only people your child follows can tag or mention them in posts
Only followers your child follows back can remix their content
"Instagram Live" is not available
Filters to reduce inappropriate content
Content settings are set to “See Less” and “13+” to hide inappropriate content and to only show content aligned with content ratings for ages 13+
Content from accounts that often share inappropriate content may be hidden and interactions with these accounts may be limited
Potentially offensive comments and message requests are hidden
Images detected as containing nudity are blurred in messages
How can you further protect your child on Instagram?
Even with default protections in place, you can add extra safeguards by reviewing settings together and agreeing on what safe usage looks like in your family.
Discuss what your child sees
Review content controls together so that your child views content that is suitable for them. Encourage your child to:
Tap “Not interested” on posts they do not want to see more of
Change their content setting to “Limited content” to further reduce sensitive content
Filter out or hide comments, message requests or keywords that bother them
Reset their suggested content in settings
Go through interactions settings together
Together, review the personal data visible on your child’s account and manage who they interact with. You and your child can decide on:
When to use the "Close Friends" feature to share content with a select group of people
When to turn off comments and adjust audience settings for their posts and stories
Who can mention or tag them and how tags are managed
Who can see their activity status
Whether they should temporarily limit interactions to close friends or from recent followers
Whether there are group chats they should leave, followers they should remove or accounts they should block
Support healthy screen habits
Find out how Instagram makes your child feel and agree on healthy boundaries.
Check in on how Instagram makes your child feel after long sessions
Encourage breaks if scrolling starts to feel overwhelming
Use “Supervision” to oversee your child’s activity on Instagram
"Supervision" allows you to link your Instagram account to your child’s account to manage content, privacy and wellbeing settings directly.
With “Supervision”, you can:
See how much time your child has spent on Instagram
Set your child’s daily screen time limits for Instagram
See their following and followers list, and accounts they have blocked
Manage your child’s privacy and content settings
What else can you do when something does not feel right?
Sometimes, certain content or interactions may cause your child to feel uncomfortable and unsafe.
When that happens, let your child know that:
They do not have to respond or explain themselves
Saving screenshots or links can help if you or your child wants to report harmful behaviour
Blocking or reporting is okay
Talking to you or another trusted adult can help them figure out next steps
Getting support early can prevent things from getting worse
Where can you learn more about Instagram’s safety tools?
Visit these resources to find out more about how to help your child stay safe on Instagram:
Instagram Help Centre: Get help with your child’s account, settings and security, and find answers to common questions
Parent’s Guide: Explore tips and resources to help your child navigate Instagram safely
You can also explore other online safety resources on our website for more advice on keeping your child safe online.