Credit: davide bonaldo / Shutterstock
Meta is expanding its AI age-detection technology to Instagram users worldwide, aiming to identify more teenage accounts and automatically place them under its Teen Account protections, even when users have registered as adults.
The technology looks for signs that an account belongs to someone under 18 and moves it into a Teen Account.
These accounts, available across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, restrict who can contact teenagers, the content they can see and how much time they spend on the apps.
Meta said it is still rolling out the technology on Facebook and plans to bring it to Threads worldwide later this year.
The company is also introducing new guidance for parents in the US. Starting this month, they will see a video in their Instagram feeds explaining how Meta places teenagers in age-appropriate settings and how they can help confirm their child’s age.
In Australia, Meta has begun using Apple’s age-range signal as an additional way to check users’ ages.
Parents can ask the App Store to verify their child’s age, after which Apple shares an age range with apps such as Instagram when a teenager downloads them.
Meta has long supported legislation requiring app stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent.
The company argues that a single verified age signal, shared by the device with all apps, would be more effective and better for privacy than having each platform carry out its own checks. It has also called on TikTok and YouTube to adopt the approach.
Meta first introduced its AI system for identifying teenage accounts in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. In May, it expanded the rollout to Brazil and the 27 EU member states.
The move comes as the company faces a growing number of lawsuits alleging that its platforms harm young users, Reuters reported.
In August, Meta agreed to settlements worth up to $18bn with almost every US state and territory. Under the agreement with 52 attorneys general, the company committed to improving how it identifies teenagers and children under 13.
Last month, Meta also settled a case brought by a teenager in a Los Angeles trial examining claims that Instagram and Facebook were designed to be addictive, Reuters reported.
Earlier this year, a New Mexico jury found Meta liable for failing to protect children from predators on its platforms and ordered the company to pay $375m in damages.
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