Meta is announcing updates to its age assurance systems that are aimed at creating a safe online experience for teens, including AI bone structure analysis on Facebook and Instagram. It’s also expanding protections for suspected age misrepresentation on Instagram in the EU and Brazil, and Facebook in the US. It’s also continuing its efforts to help parents guide teens in providing accurate age information online.
Meta expands AI age verification to scan bone structure for underage detection on Facebook and Instagram
These new updates come as part of Meta’s efforts to keep kids under 13 off its social media platforms. The AI technology apparently detects underage accounts. It will analyze entire profiles for contextual clues, like birthday celebrations or mentions of school grades. Additionally, the tech will also go through posts, comments, bios, and captions to see if the user is underage.
Meta says that it’s expanding this technology across additional parts of its apps, like Instagram Reels, Instagram Live, and Facebook Groups. If it determines an account may be underage, it will be deactivated, and the account holder will need to prove their age to prevent it from deletion.
AI will analyze entire profiles for contextual clues
It’s also adding a new visual analysis technique. This enables AI to scan photos and videos posted on its platforms for visual clues. The company notes that this is not facial recognition. It doesn’t apparently identify a specific person in the image; instead, AI looks at general themes and visual cues, like height or bone structure, to estimate age.
By combining these visual clues with the analysis of text and interactions, Meta says that it can significantly increase the number of underage accounts it detects and removes. The new AI visual analysis is currently available in select countries, including the US. It will gradually expand to more regions.
The new AI visual analysis is currently available in select countries
Separately, Meta enrolled hundreds of millions of teens into protected Teen Accounts across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger since 2024. It uses technology to identify suspected teen users even if they list an adult age, and automatically places them in teen accounts. After launching this technology on Instagram in select countries, it is now expanding to the EU and Brazil. It’s also coming to Facebook in the US, followed by a rollout in the UK and EU in June.
For parents, Meta says, it will begin sending notifications this month in the US on Facebook and Instagram. This will have information about how to verify and confirm their teens’ age on its apps. There will be tips on how to have conversations with their teens on the importance of offering the correct age. Parents can access these resources via the Family Center.
Lastly, while Meta says it invests in its own age assurance technology, it continues to advocate age verification at the app store and operating system level. This is because it believes that no “single company can solve this challenge alone.”
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