Meta is expanding its artificial intelligence (AI)-based age-estimation technology globally on Instagram to identify teenage users and automatically place them under its Teen Account protections.
The expansion is expected to bring millions more teenagers worldwide under safeguards that restrict who can contact them, the content they see, and their time on the platform. Instagram’s Teen Accounts come with built-in restrictions on interactions and content. The protections are also available on Facebook and Messenger.
The technology identifies accounts Meta suspects belong to teenagers, even when users pose as adults during registration.
Meta said the global expansion builds on the results of its earlier deployment of age-estimation technology. The company is continuing to roll out the technology on Facebook and plans to introduce similar safeguards globally on Threads later this year.
As part of the expansion, Meta is introducing additional measures to help parents ensure their teenagers’ ages are correctly recorded. In Australia, Meta has started using Apple’s age-range signal as an additional method of estimating users’ ages. Under this system, when parents set up a smartphone for their teenager, they can allow the app store to confirm the user’s age and assign an age range. Apple can then share that range with app developers when the teenager downloads an application, subject to the relevant permissions.
Meta said the signal would help identify whether users meet an application’s age requirements. The company also called for legislation requiring app stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent.
Meta is also investing in stronger technology to identify accounts that may belong to children under 13. Separately, it is strengthening its age-estimation technology to identify teenagers aged between 13 and 17 and place them in age-appropriate experiences, even if they provide an adult date of birth.
The company also called on TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar age-identification measures.