Meta's AI will catch teens lying about their age

Even teens who lied about their age on Instagram will now be caught by AI. On the 9th, Meta announced the global expansion of its AI technology that automatically estimates users' ages. According to Meta, even accounts with adult birthdates will be identified if they are likely to belong to teenagers, meaning millions of additional young users will fall under Instagram's built-in "Teen Accounts" protections.

Until now, Instagram has relied heavily on birthdates entered by users themselves. The problem was that children could easily inflate their age. This expansion is intended to address the issue of younger users circumventing age restrictions.

The move comes amid growing lawsuits and public pressure. Meta previously agreed to pay more than $16 billion to settle lawsuits over teen social media addiction in a settlement led by a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general, and committed to implementing safety measures set by a federal court. As a result, daily time limits, late-night blocking, and enhanced age verification tools will be mandatory for teen users of Instagram and Facebook.

This expanded AI age verification, working in tandem with the court-ordered mandate to enforce age verification tools, serves as an enforcement mechanism for teen protection policies. Its core purpose is to identify even teens who entered false ages, bringing millions of additional young users under "Teen Accounts" protections.