Meta is expanding Instagram’s artificial-intelligence age-estimation tools worldwide, The Verge reported Monday, citing a company announcement that the change will automatically place more teenagers into Teen Account protections even if they signed up with an adult birthday¹.

The tools already rolled out in the United States, the European Union and Brazil last year, according to The Verge¹.

The system looks for signals that a user may be under 18, including other profiles and types of content they interact with, birthday messages, and visual cues from photos and videos, The Verge said, including height and bone structure as previously reported¹.

Meta also told The Verge it has started using Apple’s age-range signal as an additional detection method in Australia¹.

Accounts believed to be under 13, Instagram’s minimum age, are to be removed, while users estimated to be 13 to 17 are placed on Teen Accounts that are private by default, limit what they can see and block strangers from sending direct messages¹.

Users 16 or younger cannot change those settings without a parent or guardian’s permission, The Verge reported¹.

The company said U.S. parents will start receiving an Instagram notification next month explaining age estimation and how to correct a teen’s age on the platform¹.

The Verge said the global expansion follows an August settlement in which Meta agreed to bolster age-assurance practices; it put the settlement figure at $17.1 billion¹.

Meta had not said whether automatic age checks on Facebook, which The Verge said rolled out to U.S. accounts in May, will expand to other regions¹.

Sources

1. The VergeInstagram’s AI age detection is expanding globally7:00 AM

Read the original at The Verge ↗