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Protecting a teenager on social media works best as a shared routine: review privacy and contact settings together, use content controls as one layer of protection, and agree on what to do when something feels wrong. Keep the conversation open so your teen can ask for help without expecting blame or an automatic loss of access.

Start with a conversation, not a search of their phone

Ask your teenager to show you the platforms they use and walk through the available safety settings together. Find out which interactions or kinds of content have made them uncomfortable, and ask what they would do if that happened again. UNICEF recommends listening without judgment and involving older children in decisions about their online privacy. Its online privacy checklist also encourages children to bring questions or concerns to a trusted adult.

Agree on a trusted adult your teen can approach, whether that is you or someone else in their support network. Make clear that their safety and well-being come first, even if they clicked, replied, or shared something they later regret.

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Review who can find, see, and contact your teen

Do this separately for each social platform: settings and labels vary, and a private profile alone may not limit every kind of contact. Open the platform’s current safety or privacy controls with your teen and check:

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  • Visibility: Who can see profile details, posts, stories, and activity?
  • Discovery: Who can find the account through search, recommendations, contacts, or other connections?
  • Messages and requests: Who can send a direct message or message request, and who can follow or add the teen?
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  • Responses: Can your teen block, restrict, mute, and report an account or post, and do they know where those controls are?

Also review device and app permissions for contacts, photos, camera, and microphone. Limit permissions that are not needed for the teen’s age and use, and keep devices and apps updated. UNICEF advises reviewing privacy settings on devices and services; the Australian eSafety Commissioner’s guidance on online contact also recommends checking who can contact children. For European Union policy context, the European Commission’s 2025 guidance on protecting minors recommends private-by-default accounts for minors to help reduce unsolicited contact from strangers. That guidance is not a platform-by-platform safety test or a universal rule for every country.

Use content controls, but teach judgment too

Explore each platform’s content, recommendation, and sensitive-material controls with your teen. Choose age-appropriate options together where they are available, then discuss how to recognize misinformation, material that is not age-appropriate, and content that leaves them anxious or distressed.

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Parental controls can add another layer. Depending on the service or device, they may manage access to websites, screen time, communications, or spending; the exact features differ. Check what a particular control actually covers in the eSafety Commissioner’s parental-controls guidance and in the relevant service’s own help information. These tools do not replace a teen’s ability to recognize a problem or use a platform’s block and report features. UNICEF’s online safety guidance emphasizes talking with children about what they encounter online.

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Agree on what to do when something feels unsafe

Make a simple plan with your teen before a problem occurs. If a message, account, or post feels unsafe, they can stop responding, block or restrict the account, report the content or behavior through the platform, and tell a trusted adult. UNICEF advises children to tell a parent or trusted adult if something online makes them feel upset, uncomfortable, or scared.

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If appropriate, preserve relevant details, such as the account name, message, or post, before blocking or reporting. Do not ask the teen to keep engaging to gather more evidence. For credible threats, coercion, exploitation, or immediate danger, use the child-safety or emergency reporting channel that applies where you live. The right agency and process depend on your location; advice from one country should not be treated as a universal reporting route.

Keep controls proportionate and revisit them

Settings and platform features change, so revisit them periodically and whenever your teen starts using a new service or has a concerning experience. Explain the purpose of each change and give your teenager an age-appropriate role in choosing settings and household rules. UNICEF recommends helping older children take more responsibility while remaining aware of their online activities. The goal is for controls to support safety and growing judgment—not to make constant surveillance the only protection.

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What the available figures do—and do not—show

The Australian eSafety Commissioner reports that, in a 2024 study of Australian children, 55% had been in contact with someone they first met online, while 34% of parents knew about their children’s online contacts. These figures are specific to that Australian study and are not global estimates. They do not establish the rate for teenagers in other countries or explain the study’s sample and methods in the guidance page. See the Commissioner’s online contact guidance for its context.

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