Instant message servers configured for automatic instant message usage control in an instant message system are disclosed herein. In one example, an instant message server can be configured to determine an IM usage time of the user during the one or more IM sessions based on numbers of the detected occurrences of the IM events and weight factors corresponding to each type of the IM events. The weight factors correlate the numbers of occurrences of each type of the IM events to a corresponding IM usage period for each occurrence. The instant message server can then perform a comparison of the determined IM usage time of the user with a preset threshold and when the IM usage time of the user exceeds the threshold based on the comparison, automatically adjust the IM service provided to the user by the instant message server.