Instagram expands AI age detection worldwide for teens

Meta says Instagram's AI-based age detection will automatically place millions of additional users into teen account protections worldwide, even when they signed up with a false birthdate.

The company is expanding the system globally after piloting the tools last year. According to The Verge, Instagram's technology analyzes multiple signals to estimate a user's age and apply protections for underage accounts.

How the system assesses age

Meta says the AI examines account activity, the types of content a user engages with and even birthday messages received to infer an approximate age. The system also draws on visual cues in photos and videos posted by the user, including broad subject matter and physical characteristics such as height and bone structure.

Account consequences and parental controls

Meta uses the assessment to identify two age bands. Accounts the company estimates to belong to users under 13 will be removed, reflecting the 13-year minimum age policy for Meta's social networks. Accounts believed to belong to users aged 13 to 17 will be automatically converted to teen accounts, even if the user entered a false date of birth at registration.

Teen accounts are private by default, have limits on the types of content visible to the account holder and block direct messages from strangers. Meta launched these AI age-detection features last year in the United States, the European Union and Brazil and now intends to roll them out globally. In Australia, Meta has also begun using Apple's private age-range signal as a supplementary method.

Parents and legal guardians can enable supervision to set time limits and monitor a teenager's activity, and users aged 16 and under cannot change teen account settings without parental permission.