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April 22, 2025
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, is increasingly relying on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to verify the age of users and better protect minors. The company is testing an AI system in the US that is designed to identify young people who have provided a false date of birth despite the age restriction of 13 years. These accounts are then to be automatically converted into so-called "Teen Accounts" which offer special protection mechanisms.
Verifying the age of users presents social media platforms with major challenges. Many young people provide a false date of birth to circumvent the age restriction and gain access to all functions and content. Meta acknowledges that age verification is an industry-wide problem and is looking for long-term solutions that ideally would work via app stores or through parental consent.
Instagram already introduced the so-called "Teen Accounts" last year. These offer a range of protective measures for minors, including restricted contact options, regulated content, and limited screen time. Changes to these default settings are only possible for users under 16 with parental consent.
According to Meta, over 54 million young people worldwide already use the "Teen Accounts", with 97 percent of 13- to 15-year-olds opting for use with restricted functions. Internal company surveys also show that 90 percent of parents find the new "Teen Accounts" helpful. Meta plans to extend the "Teen Accounts" to Facebook and its own Messenger as well.
The AI analyzes various clues to determine the true age of users. These include, for example, birthday greetings from friends, behavior patterns on the platform, and reports by other users. If the system determines that a user is likely underage and has provided a false date of birth, the account is automatically converted into a "Teen Account" and the corresponding protection mechanisms are activated.
Meta emphasizes that the use of AI for age verification is sensitive and the systems are trained to minimize errors. Affected users are given the opportunity to change their settings if an incorrect classification has occurred. In addition, parents are to be given more responsibility and will receive notifications in the future with tips on how to talk to their children about their social media use. Meta has developed conversation guides for this purpose together with experts.
AI-supported age verification is another step by Meta to improve youth protection on its platforms. Whether the system achieves the desired results and how it is received by users remains to be seen. The discussion about the protection of minors in the digital space will certainly continue, and the development of new technologies will play an important role in this.
