Meta is expanding AI age detection for Instagram teen accounts
The company will increase its use of the tech on Facebook and Threads too.
Meta is expanding AI age detection for Instagram teen accounts
The company will increase its use of the tech on Facebook and Threads too.
Meta is expanding its use of AI age-estimation systems globally to place more Instagram users around the into teen accounts. The company has been using this tech in the US, European Union and Brazil to estimate a user's age. If the systems determine the person is aged between 13 and 17, they'll be funneled into a teen account, even if they used an adult date of birth while signing up.
Teen accounts are more restrictive than standard ones as they have age-appropriate protections. They prevent strangers from messaging teens, make profiles and posts private by default, employ daily app time limits and have parental controls. Meta will soon start sending parents in the US a notification on Instagram to explain how teens are placed into these accounts.
Meta is continuing to expand its use of AI age-estimation tech on Facebook as well. The company plans to bring it to Threads later this year. In Australia, it's starting to use Apple's age-range system as an extra age-detection signal (Meta has long been pushing for legislation that would make app stores responsible for verifying users' ages).
In August, the company reached an agreement (under which it may have to pay as much as $18 billion) with 52 attorneys general to settle a lawsuit that alleged harms to young users of its apps. As part of that settlement, the company said it's "investing in even stronger technology to proactively catch accounts that may belong to children under 13" and to detect accounts belonging to 13- to 17-year-olds.
Update, November 9, 2026, 2:12PM ET: A previous version of this story indicated that Meta is using bone structure analysis of photos, as well as mentions of things like school grades or birthday celebrations to estimate a person's age. The company clarified to Engadget that these measures are used to detect and remove people aged under 13 from its platforms.