Meta showcased new safety features for teenagers at the Nigeria Youth Safety Summit in Abuja as government officials, educators, parents and youth leaders gathered to discuss ways to strengthen online safety and digital wellbeing. The event was co-hosted by the Federal Ministry of Youth Development.
- Meta showcased new safety features for teenagers at the Nigeria Youth Safety Summit in Abuja as government officials, educators, parents...
- The event was co-hosted by the Federal Ministry of Youth Development.
- Teens under 16 need a parent’s permission to change any of these settings to be less strict.
- We will continue to build the safety features and tools that families need to support young people online.” Meta Expands Parental...
Keep reading for the full breakdown on Digital citizenship — everything you need to know is covered below.
Meta Teen Accounts Add Built-In Safety Protections
Teen Accounts are turned on automatically for all teens, with built-in protections including private accounts, the strictest messaging settings, sensitive content restrictions, limited interactions, time limit reminders after 60 minutes each day, and sleep mode between 10 PM and 7 AM. Teens under 16 need a parent’s permission to change any of these settings to be less strict.
Meta’s Head of Safety Policy for EMEA, Sylvia Musalagani, said, “At Meta, our goal is to provide teens with safe, age-appropriate online experiences, and events like the Nigeria Youth Safety Summit, reflect our commitment to promoting safer and more positive digital experiences for teens. With products such as Teen Accounts, Meta is putting the right protections in place so teens can explore their interests and express their creativity in a safe, age-appropriate space. We will continue to build the safety features and tools that families need to support young people online.”
Meta Expands Parental Controls, Launches Youth Safety Campaign
Meta also highlighted enhanced parental supervision features, enabling parents to receive notifications when their teenagers report inappropriate content, view insights into who they communicate with, set daily time limits on Instagram, schedule breaks during specific hours and monitor the types of age-appropriate content their children engage with based on their interests.
Nigeria’s Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, said, “Child online safety is one of our central pillars and we are steadfast in our mandate to safeguard the Nigerian child from technology-enabled violence. Children cannot navigate the complexities of the online world without informed adults guiding them because safety begins with the parents. Safety is a shared tripartite responsibility between parents, technological industries, and government.”
Minister of Youth Development Ayodele Olawande said, “We see a strong connection between the objectives of this summit and the goals of our National Youth Data Protection and Awareness Training Programme. We believe that keeping young people safe online is a shared responsibility. Government, technology companies, schools, parents, social organisations, community groups, and young people themselves all have a role to play.”
The summit also marked the launch of the Youth Online Safety Campaign and My Digital World (MDW) 2.0, initiatives designed to promote responsible digital citizenship and strengthen online safety awareness. Speakers included Ahmed Yusuf Tanbuwal of the National Information Technology Development Agency and Meta’s Sade Dada, Head of Public Policy for Anglophone West Africa.
