Meta is expanding ‘teen accounts’ to Facebook and Messenger in Pakistan starting this week, placing both new and existing teen users into “safer, more protected experiences,” the organisation said on Thursday.

“Teen accounts are already rolled out globally on Instagram, and now Meta is extending the same protections to teens worldwide on Facebook and Messenger,” Meta said in a statement.

Teen accounts were introduced by Meta a year ago, which, according to the statement, was “a significant step to keep teens safe across Meta’s apps”.

“Since then, hundreds of millions of teens have already been placed into Teen Accounts across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger.”

The statement added: “Teen Account protections were designed to address parents’ top concerns with automatic safeguards that limit who teens can interact with, filter the content they see, and ensure their time online is well spent.”

While there’s always more work to be done, Meta says it is “encouraged to see that Teen Accounts are bringing parents more peace of mind when it comes to their teens’ online experiences.”

“As part of Meta’s commitment to supporting parents and protecting teens, the organisation is always working on new ways to keep teens safe on their apps,” per the statement.

Last month, Reuters reported that Meta’s AI rules have let bots hold sensual chats with kids as well as offer false medical information.

Chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg has also said that Meta Platforms would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build “several massive AI data centres for superintelligence,” intensifying pursuit of a technology Zuckerberg has chased with a talent war for top engineers.