Meta is expanding its artificial intelligence technology to identify teenage users on Instagram, even when they have entered an incorrect adult age when creating their account.
The company said the technology can estimate whether an Instagram user is aged between 13 and 17 by examining various signals from their account, including information about their activity and the content they post.
Users identified as teenagers will automatically be placed in Instagram’s Teen Accounts system, which provides additional protections by default. These include greater privacy settings, restrictions on who can contact them, limits on access to certain types of content and controls over how long they can use the platform.
Meta said the expansion would bring millions more teenagers around the world under the protections provided by Teen Accounts, including those who did not give their real age when signing up.
The company said it was also continuing to expand similar age-assurance technology across its other platforms, including Facebook, with plans to introduce it on Threads.
Meta has faced growing legal and political pressure over the potential impact of its social media platforms on children and teenagers. The company says its age-estimation systems are designed to provide additional safeguards for young users rather than relying solely on the age they enter when creating an account.
