Meta is expanding its AI-powered age-detection technology globally to identify Instagram users who may be teenagers but have entered incorrect birth dates to appear as adults. The rollout will help to ensure that additional protection against contact with unwanted people, sensitive content and excessive screen time, provided under Instagram’s Teen Account settings, are available to more users aged 13-17.
The expansion follows governments’ growing concern over children’s social media habits and efforts by governments to force platforms to take more action to protect children. Meta is also rolling out more age detection features in certain markets, such as Apple’s age range signal in Australia. At the same time, parents in the US will be getting Instagram’s notifications this month regarding how Instagram identifies teens and applies safety restrictions.
AI system has been developed to detect if someone is a teenager, despite entering a different date of birth in the account, using signals from the account. The company hasn’t revealed all the signals it uses for the technology.
If an account is detected as being owned by a teenager, Instagram may put it into Teen Account protections. These settings help to limit who can reach young users, limit young users’ access to certain content and add reminders to manage screen time.
In September 2024, Teen Accounts were launched by Meta. It automatically sets the safety levels for users between 13 to 17 years old. For some, the restrictions of teen accounts will require parental consent for changes for younger teens.
Meta is rolling out similar AI-based age detectors to Facebook. The company also plans to introduce comparable measures globally on Threads later this year.
In Australia, Meta has also begun applying the age-range signal from Apple to determine if the user is of an appropriate age to be able to use an app.
With this implementation, parents can configure their kids’ smartphones and let the app store provide an age range to app developers. This data can be used on a platform to decide if a user is of an appropriate age to use the platform.
Meta has affirmed that it’s using Apple’s signal voluntarily. However, the company believes age-related protections could remain inconsistent unless app stores and developers are required to participate in age-sharing systems.
is also calling for legislation requiring app stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent. The company says a standard age-verification process would make it unnecessary for the individual platforms to carry out separate verification.
The company said that age verification requirements vary from country to country, some of which need information like a government ID number.
Meta is also spending money on technologies to detect accounts that might belong to kids under 13, who are prohibited from using its platforms. The new addition is part of its overall initiative to enhance age detection capabilities and bolster protections for young users online.
