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Meta announced a global expansion of Instagram’s AI age-estimation technology. The system will identify accounts that may belong to teenagers, even when users have entered an adult date of birth.
The company said the move would place millions more teenagers into Teen Account protections. The announcement comes as Meta faces lawsuits alleging that its platforms harm young users.
Instagram Will Assess Several Signals To estimate a user’s age. These include the accounts and content a user interacts with, birthday messages received on the platform, and themes in uploaded photos and videos.
The system may also consider visual cues such as a person’s apparent height and bone structure. Meta says it will use these signals to identify likely teenagers and apply age-appropriate safeguards.
Teen Accounts include built-in restrictions on Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. They limit who can contact teenagers, control the content they see and manage the time they spend on the apps. Instagram will automatically enroll accounts identified as belonging to teenagers in these protections. Meta says it will remove accounts it believes belong to children under 13, the minimum age for using its platforms.
Parents in the United States will begin receiving Instagram notifications this month. These messages will explain how Meta places teenagers under age-appropriate protections. The company is also expanding the technology on Facebook.
It plans to launch similar age-assurance features globally on Threads later this year. In Australia, Meta has started using Apple’s age-range signal as an additional method to determine users’ ages. This adds another layer to the company’s age-assurance approach.
The global rollout marks a shift from relying only on self-reported birthdays. Meta now wants AI-based signals to decide whether an account needs teen safeguards. The expansion could strengthen protections for young users, but it also raises questions about accuracy. Adults who are wrongly identified as teenagers may face restrictions unless they successfully challenge the classification.
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