Meta expands AI age checks for Instagram teen accounts worldwide
The company is also expanding age-estimation technology on Facebook and plans to introduce it on Threads later this year.
Meta said it is broadening its global use of artificial intelligence to identify Instagram users aged 13 to 17 and move them into teen accounts. The systems can assign those accounts even when users registered with a birth date indicating they were adults.
The technology has already been used in Brazil, the European Union and the US. Teen accounts include restrictions on messages from strangers, private profiles and posts by default, daily limits on app use and parental controls. Meta said it would soon begin notifying US parents on Instagram about how teenagers are assigned to these accounts.
Meta previously said its age estimates draw on bone structure in photographs and references users make to school grades or birthday celebrations. In Australia, the company is beginning to incorporate Apple's age-range system as an additional signal.
The expansion also covers Facebook, where Meta is increasing its use of AI age estimation. The company plans to introduce the technology on Threads later this year.
In August, Meta agreed to settle litigation brought by 52 attorneys general over alleged harm to young app users. The agreement could require payments of up to US$18 billion. As part of the settlement, Meta said it was investing in better technology to identify accounts potentially belonging to children under 13 and users aged 13 to 17.
