Meta announces global expansion of AI age checks to protect teens on Instagram

Meta announced Monday that it is expanding its artificial intelligence-powered age-estimation technology globally to bring millions more Instagram users under its Teen Account protections.

The technology identifies users suspected of being teenagers, even if they registered with a birth date indicating they are adults, the company said.

Meta said accounts identified as belonging to teenagers would automatically receive age-appropriate safeguards.

Teen Accounts restrict who can contact young users, the content they can view and the amount of time they spend on the platform.

The company said it was also continuing to introduce the age-estimation technology on Facebook and planned to launch a similar system globally on Threads later this year.

The expansion builds on commitments Meta made under an agreement with 52 attorneys general from US states, territories and the District of Columbia.

The agreement aims to strengthen the identification of teenage users and children under 13, according to the company.

Meta said parents in the US would begin receiving information through Instagram this month explaining the protections and how to ensure their children provide accurate ages.

In Australia, the company has started using age-range information shared by Apple as an additional measure to verify users' ages.

Meta also urged competing platforms TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar practices, arguing that consistent protections across social media services were necessary.

Under the agreement announced in August, Meta committed to introducing additional safeguards for younger users.

These include daily usage limits, default nighttime restrictions, muted notifications during school hours and expanded parental controls.