Instagram To Use AI Technology To Find Teens Lying About Their Age

Meta-owned Instagram will begin testing AI technology to proactively find accounts that it suspects belong to teens, even if the accounts list an adult birthday. If the platform finds such accounts, it will automatically enrol those users into a restricted Teen Account. The feature will enter its testing phase initially in the US.

"We’re taking steps to ensure our technology is accurate and that we are correctly placing teens we identify into protective, age-appropriate settings, but in case we make a mistake, we’re giving people the option to change their settings," said Meta in a blog post on Monday. While Instagram has used AI for age verification for a while, the social network has now confirmed it's leveraging this technology to ensure that teens are accessing the social media platform via a Teen Account rather than an adult one.

Meta launched Teen Accounts last year to create a more secure and age-appropriate space for teens online. With built-in protections, Teen Accounts limit unwanted interactions, enhance privacy settings, and provide parents with greater oversight, ensuring a safer social media experience for young users. Meanwhile, Meta also noted in the recent blog post that it begin sending notifications to parents on Instagram with information about how they can have conversations with their teens on the importance of providing the correct age online. The social media giant's announcement comes two weeks after it unveiled Teen Accounts on its other platforms, Facebook and Messenger.