Instagram expands AI age detection to restrict teen accounts worldwide

Meta introduces artificial intelligence technology to identify underage users even when their registered birth dates suggest they are adults.

Meta introduces artificial intelligence technology to identify underage users even when their registered birth dates suggest they are adults.

Instagram is expanding its use of artificial intelligence to identify teenage users and automatically apply age-based safety restrictions even when their account details indicate they are 18 or older.

Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook announced the global expansion of the technology on Monday. The move aims to identify young users who may have bypassed existing age requirements by entering inaccurate dates of birth during registration.

Instead of relying solely on information provided when an account is created Instagram’s system examines different signals from users’ activity to estimate whether they are under 18.

Accounts identified as belonging to teenagers will automatically be placed in Instagram’s Teen Accounts category. These accounts come with additional safeguards including restrictions on who can contact users limits on potentially harmful content and enhanced parental supervision options.

Teenagers aged 16 and younger also need parental approval to modify certain safety settings.

However, Meta clarified that users will not be banned simply because they are under 18. The company operates a separate system to identify and remove accounts belonging to children below the platform’s minimum age requirement of 13.

In the United States parents are expected to receive notifications during November explaining how Instagram’s age-detection technology works.

The company is also using Apple’s age-range information in Australia as an additional method of identifying younger users.

The expansion comes amid growing legal and public scrutiny of social media companies over their impact on children’s wellbeing. Meta has faced lawsuits alleging that its platforms contributed to mental health problems among young people and has agreed to multibillion-dollar settlements in related cases.

Although the company has rejected allegations that it deliberately harmed children it has continued introducing additional safety measures.

The AI-based age detection system is also being introduced on Facebook while a similar expansion to Threads is planned for later this year.

Meta has called on other major platforms including TikTok and YouTube to introduce comparable protections for younger users.