Instagram will now use artificial intelligence to estimate users' ages and automatically restrict their accounts if it suspects they are teenagers, even if they signed up using a fake date of birth. Meta Platforms, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, announced the global expansion on Monday, saying the technology would help identify millions of teenagers who have been using the platform without age-appropriate restrictions.
The system analyses signals from users' activity to determine whether they are under 18, rather than relying entirely on the birthdays entered when accounts are created. Those identified as teenagers will automatically be placed into Instagram's Teen Accounts, which limit who can contact them, restrict potentially harmful content and provide additional parental controls.
Users aged 16 and below also require parental permission to change certain safety settings. However, teenagers will not be banned simply for being under 18.
Meta Platforms separately uses technology to identify and remove accounts belonging to children under 13. The company said parents in the United States would begin receiving notifications this month explaining how the age-detection system works.
In Australia, Instagram is also using Apple's age-range information as an additional way to determine whether users are children. The changes come after Meta Platforms agreed to multibillion-dollar settlements in lawsuits accusing its social media platforms of harming young people's mental health.
Meta Platforms has denied allegations of deliberately harming children but agreed to strengthen its safety measures. The technology is also being introduced on Facebook, with a similar rollout planned for Threads later this year.
Meta Platforms has urged other social media platforms, including TikTok, to follow suit and enhance user safety measures globally. Industry analysts have welcomed the move, noting that robust verification systems are essential for creating a safer digital ecosystem for minors across various online platforms.