Menlo Park-based Meta said Monday, Nov. 9, that it is expanding its AI age-estimation technology on Instagram worldwide, to find users it suspects are teens and move them into Teen Account protections even if they listed an adult birthday.
Teen Accounts limit who can message a user, hide harmful comments and set accounts to private by default. Meta's system looks for clues across profiles, posts, comments, bios and captions, such as birthday celebrations or mentions of a school grade, and also uses visual cues from photos and videos, TechCrunch reported.
What changes
Meta said the expansion will put "millions more teens" into the protections. It is still rolling the technology out on Facebook and plans a similar global launch on Threads later this year, the company said in a blog post. This month, parents in the U.S. will start seeing an in-feed video on Instagram explaining the approach. In Australia, Meta has also started using Apple's age-range signal from the app store.
Why now
Meta said the move builds on its agreement with 52 attorneys general across U.S. states, territories and Washington, D.C. TechCrunch noted Meta reached settlements worth up to $18 billion in August over claims its platforms harm teens. Meta also called on TikTok and YouTube to adopt the same practices. Earlier: Ofcom investigates Meta.