Meta, FG partner to strengthen youth online safety with teen accounts

Meta has partnered with the Federal Government to strengthen online safety for young Nigerians with the introduction of enhanced Teen Accounts and parental supervision tools designed to provide age-appropriate digital experiences and promote responsible internet use.

 

The initiative was unveiled on Thursday at the Nigeria Youth Safety Summit held in Abuja. The summit, co-hosted by Meta and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, brought together government officials, civil society organisations, educators, parents, content creators and youth leaders to discuss digital wellbeing, foster partnerships and promote safer online experiences for young people.

 

Speaking at the summit, Sylvia Musalagani, Head of Safety Policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Meta, said the company remained committed to creating safe, age-appropriate online experiences for teenagers.

 

She stated that Meta continues to investment in youth online safety through built-in protections, parental supervision features and digital literacy resources aimed at helping teenagers navigate the digital world safely and confidently.

 

 

“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,” she said.

 

She said that the centre of the initiative are Teen Accounts, a redesigned experience across Meta’s platforms that automatically applies enhanced privacy and safety settings for teenage users.

 

Musalagani explained that the built-in protections include private accounts by default, the strictest messaging settings, restrictions on sensitive content, limited interactions that allow only people they follow to tag or mention them, daily reminders after 60 minutes of app usage and an automatic sleep mode between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

 

She added that teenagers under the age of 16 require parental approval before any of these protections can be relaxed.

 

Meta also introduced enhanced parental supervision tools that enable parents to receive notifications when their teenagers report content, monitor who they are messaging, set daily time limits for Instagram use, schedule app breaks and gain insights into the type of age-appropriate content their children engage with.

 

Also speaking, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, described child online safety as one of the Federal Government’s priority areas, stressing that protecting children in the digital space requires collaboration among parents, technology companies and government.

 

“Children cannot navigate the complexities of the online world without informed adults guiding them because safety begins with the parents. Safety is a shared responsibility between parents, technological industries and government,” she said.

 

She commended Meta for partnering with the government to provide practical demonstrations of Teen Accounts and parental supervision tools while creating a platform for critical conversations on youth online safety.

 

On his part, Ayodele Olawande, Minister of Youth Development, said the objectives of the summit aligned with the Federal Government’s National Youth Data Protection and Awareness Training Programme.

 

He noted that equipping young people with digital skills must go hand in hand with protecting them from emerging online threats.

 

Olawande urged Meta to expand access to the tools, guides and learning resources introduced at the summit so that more young Nigerians could benefit from the initiative.

 

The event concluded with a renewed commitment by Meta and its partners to deepen collaboration, improve digital literacy and build a safer online environment where Nigerian children and teenagers can learn, connect and thrive responsibly.