In a bid to enhance safety for its younger users, Meta, the parent company of social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Threads, has rolled out an AI-powered age-estimation technology worldwide. This move aims to detect teenage users who may have signed up with false birthdates. The system, which has been successful in identifying such users in over 20 countries before this global rollout, will switch these accounts to restricted Teen Accounts or remove them from the platform entirely.
The AI system is designed to identify user accounts based on contextual clues such as birthday celebrations, school-related mentions, and visual cues from pictures and videos. It does not involve facial recognition. Once identified, these accounts are moved into Teen Accounts, which limit the time teenagers can spend on the apps, restrict content access, and prevent strangers from sending direct messages. In countries that prohibit social media for underage users, the account may be terminated entirely.
In the United States, Meta will impose additional restrictions for users under 18, limiting their daily usage to two hours and imposing a midnight-to-6am curfew. Meanwhile, in Australia, Meta has begun using an Apple feature that verifies a user’s age range when setting up their phone, which is then passed on to apps they download. The company supports legislation that would require app stores to verify users' ages, claiming it to be more effective than individual developers collecting such information for each app.
The implementation of this AI-powered age-verification system follows a recent out-of-court settlement in the United States, where Meta was accused of designing its platforms to addict children and collect their personal data, failing to verify users' ages, and even encouraging minors to bypass existing verification measures. The lawsuit, brought by 29 US states and cosigned by 52 US attorneys general, resulted in Meta agreeing to pay up to $18bn to plaintiffs and making significant changes to its platform to protect minors.
However, experts remain skeptical about whether this latest measure will effectively protect children from online harm. Governments worldwide have increasingly intervened to protect minors from the perceived harms of social media, with several countries introducing bans for minors under a certain age, including the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Australia, and Turkey. The debate continues on the appropriate balance between user privacy, data collection, and the protection of children in the digital age.