United States – Meta has taken down more than 635,000 accounts from Instagram and Facebook as part of its ongoing efforts to protect children and teens from online exploitation. The crackdown included 135,000 Instagram accounts that left sexualised comments or requested explicit images from adult-managed profiles featuring children under 13, as well as an additional 500,000 accounts linked to this harmful activity.
Alongside this enforcement update, Meta announced a suite of new features aimed at making its platforms safer for young users and accounts featuring children. These include enhancements to direct messages (DMs), nudity protection, and expanded protections for adult-managed accounts showcasing minors.
Strengthening Teen Account Safety
Among the new tools, Meta has introduced enhanced safety prompts in DMs for teen users. These features now display the account creation date of people messaging teens, along with easy-access buttons to block and report suspicious users. A newly streamlined block-and-report function allows teens to take both actions in one step, helping Meta identify and remove violative accounts faster.
In June 2025 alone, teens blocked over 1 million accounts and reported another 1 million after being shown Safety Notices – alerts that prompt users to take action if they feel uncomfortable.
Teens also saw Instagram’s Location Notice 1 million times in June, which alerts users if someone they’re chatting with may be in a different country. Meta says this measure helps guard against sextortion scams, where perpetrators often misrepresent their location.
Meta’s nudity protection feature, which automatically blurs suspected nude images in DMs, continues to see strong adoption. More than 40% of blurred images remained unviewed in June, and users opted not to forward suspected explicit content 45% of the time after receiving a warning. The feature is on by default for teens, with 99% choosing to keep it enabled.
Expanding Protections to Child-Focused Accounts
Meta is also extending several teen account protections to adult-managed accounts that primarily feature children, such as parenting profiles or accounts managed by agents on behalf of young talents.
These protections include:
- Automatically enabling stricter message settings
- Turning on Hidden Words, which filters offensive comments
- Suppressing these accounts from being recommended to potentially suspicious adults
- Reducing search visibility and comment exposure from flagged adult accounts
Accounts flagged as “potentially suspicious” include those previously blocked by teens, helping preempt interactions with individuals who may have a history of inappropriate behavior.
Cross-Platform Safeguards
Recognising that online exploitation isn’t confined to one platform, Meta has also shared data on the removed accounts with other tech companies through the Tech Coalition’s Lantern program. This collaboration is designed to stop repeat offenders across the broader tech ecosystem.
“These latest safety measures and account takedowns underscore our commitment to protecting young people on our platforms,” Meta stated, adding that its teams will continue to evolve enforcement and detection efforts alongside safety education.
The newly announced protections are expected to be fully implemented in the coming months.
