The key facts

  • The AI analyzes profiles, posts, comments and visual features, including height and bone structure
  • The technology is also being deployed on Facebook, with a global launch on Threads planned by the end of the year
  • The expansion is tied to Meta's agreements with nearly all US states and territories worth up to $18 billion

Global expansion of the technology

Meta announced on Monday that it is rolling out its AI age-detection technology on Instagram worldwide in order to identify more teenagers and place them under the protection of Teen Accounts. The company says the technology will make it possible to find users it suspects of being teenagers, even if they have entered an adult date of birth. TechCrunch reports this citing the company's announcement.

How the system works

The age-detection tools use AI to analyze the entire profile for contextual signals: birthday celebrations, mentions of school grades. Signals are searched across different formats — posts, comments, bio, captions, as well as visual features in photos and videos, including a person's height and bone structure. Teen Accounts, into which identified users are placed, represent a stricter mode: direct messages only from people the user follows, hiding of harmful comments, and a private account by default.

Context: agreements with US authorities

The global expansion comes after Meta reached in August agreements worth up to $18 billion with nearly all US states and territories to settle lawsuits that accused the company's platforms of harming teenagers. Under the terms of the agreements, Meta committed to improving the detection of teenagers and children under 13. In its blog, the company wrote that, as part of the deal with 52 bipartisan attorneys general of states, territories and the District of Columbia, it is investing in stronger technologies to detect accounts of children under 13 and to strengthen the identification of accounts belonging to teenagers aged 13–17. Meta also said the technology continues to roll out on Facebook, and a similar global launch on Threads is planned by the end of this year; parents in the US will begin seeing videos in their feed explaining the company's approach.