Meta expands Instagram’s AI age-guessing tech globally

Summary

• Meta announced a worldwide expansion of AI-powered age estimation technology on Instagram to identify teens & place them under Teen Account protections.
• The technology identifies suspected teens even if they provide an adult birthday by analyzing profile context, posts, comments, bios, captions, photos, & videos for clues like birthday celebrations, school grades, height, or bone structure.
• Teen Accounts enforce stricter safeguards including limiting direct messages to followed or connected users, hiding harmful comments, & setting accounts to private by default.
• The age-guessing tools are also rolling out on Facebook, with a similar global launch planned for Threads later this year.
• This expansion follows settlements worth up to $18 billion with nearly every U.S. state & territory in August to resolve lawsuits alleging harm to teens.
• As part of the settlements, Meta agreed to improve teen identification & invest in stronger technology to catch accounts belonging to children under 13 & teens aged 13 to 17.
• U.S. parents will begin seeing an in-feed video on Instagram explaining the company's approach to ensuring teens receive age-appropriate protections.