Meta Expands AI Age Detection on Instagram to Find Teen Accounts
Meta is rolling out AI age estimation on Instagram worldwide to spot teens aged 13 to 17 who registered as adults, and move them into Teen Accounts.
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giftdetect· the right gift in minutesMeta has expanded its use of artificial intelligence to estimate the age of Instagram users worldwide. The goal is to identify accounts that likely belong to teenagers aged 13 to 17, even when the owners signed up with a birth date that makes them look like adults, and to place them in Teen Accounts.
Teen Accounts limit who can contact a user, restrict the content that appears and cap time spent in the app. According to a statement on Meta's official website, the move aims to bring millions more teens under these protections after the technology was first used in selected markets. The system no longer relies solely on the birth date a user enters.
Beyond Instagram
Meta says it is also continuing to expand the technology on Facebook and plans to launch similar tools on Threads globally before the end of 2026. In Australia, the company will begin using age-group information provided by Apple as an additional signal for estimating age.
What parents and regulators will see
Parents in the United States will start receiving notifications inside Instagram in November. The messages explain how teen ages are estimated and why it matters to enter accurate age information. The expansion is also tied to Meta's commitments under an agreement with 52 attorneys general from US states and territories and the District of Columbia.
Meta acknowledges that AI age estimation is an inference, not conclusive proof of a person's identity or age. The company is also calling on app stores to share age signals, which would reduce the need for users to repeat verification on every platform.
For teens, the change means that simply entering a false birth year may no longer be enough to unlock adult account features on Instagram.
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