Meta is expanding its automated age-estimation technology globally starting this month, the company said in an announcement on Monday. The move follows billion-dollar legal settlements and criticism that its platforms fail to protect teenagers from online harms.
The company said its AI is designed to find people it suspects are teenagers, even when they have entered an adult birthday, and to place those accounts under Teen Account protections. Meta said it had been placing more teens in age-appropriate protections since first introducing the technology, and that it was encouraged by the results.
How the age estimation system works
The technology has been tested in several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. It analyses user behaviour and posts to estimate a person’s age. Previously, parents could open accounts for children and set them up as restricted teen accounts.
The feature can now also move an account into that category automatically, even if it was created with a manually entered birthday that made the user appear to be an adult. Teens often get around restrictions by entering a fake birthday, which raises concerns that minors could bypass parental controls and be exposed to harmful content.
Parents in the United States who have set up Instagram for teenagers will receive notifications this month about the new measures. Meta said it will extend the age-estimation algorithm to Facebook and Threads later in the year.
Teen account limits and the $18bn settlement terms
Teen accounts carry tighter restrictions on contacts, types of content and time spent on the apps. Meta has several age-based categories. Children under 13 are banned from using the apps, and teenagers are reminded to leave Instagram after 60 minutes of activity. Notifications are also muted at night, when teens would usually be sleeping.
Under changes linked to a settlement with US states, the company agreed to pay $18bn and introduce a series of measures on how teenagers interact with its platforms. Those changes could only be removed by parents or guardians. They include:
- Restricting under-18 users to two hours a day on the platforms
- Enforcing a nighttime curfew from midnight to 6am
- Using default settings that block “social comparison” features, such as seeing likes and reactions on posts
- Blocking “cosmetic procedure filters” that alter a person’s appearance
- Blocking push notifications for teen accounts between 8am and 3pm
- Prompting teens to take breaks after every 15 minutes of continuous use, and when daily usage reaches 60 and 90 minutes
- Sending parents updates on teen account activity and alerts when a teen messages an adult for the first time
- Triggering parental notifications when teens search for topics such as suicide, self-harm or eating disorders
As part of the settlement, Meta also agreed to improve how it identifies minors and children on its platforms.
Growing legal pressure and calls for industry action
The social media giant has faced growing legal action worldwide over how teenagers use its platforms. The attorneys general who sued Meta in the US alleged that its platforms “encourage addictive behaviour, fail to verify users’ ages, encourage adolescents to bypass parental controls, and inadequately safeguard against harmful content and/or intentionally amplify harmful and exploitative content”. Child development experts have said Instagram and Facebook are highly addictive for young people and can reinforce social pressures through reactions to posts.
Australia passed a law last year banning anyone below 16 from using social media platforms. This month, several groups, including the advocacy group Digital Freedom Project and the social media website Reddit, filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of that law. The challenge also questions the scientific rationale for keeping children entirely off platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and TikTok.
In announcing the new automated age estimation, Meta also called on other industry leaders to follow suit. “As Instagram is just one of the many apps teens use, we’re also calling on our industry peers, TikTok and YouTube, to adopt these same practices to keep teens safe,” the company said in its statement.
