Instagram will introduce its first parental controls in March as it faces pressure to do more to shield its young users from harmful content and keep them from overusing the product.
Adam Mosseri, the head of the app inside Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, said in a blog post that parents would be able to see how long their teenage children have spent using Instagram and limit the amount of time they spend on the app. Teenagers will also be able to tell their parents if they have reported someone for a violation of Instagram’s policies.
“This is the first version of these tools; we’ll continue to add more options over time,” he said in the post.
Mr. Mosseri is scheduled to appear before a Senate committee on Wednesday, and he is expected to field questions about whether social media harms children and teenagers. The app has been under new pressure since Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, leaked documents that showed the company was aware that Instagram makes teenage girls feel worse about themselves.