Technology · Apps & SoftwareMeta has expanded its artificial intelligence age-estimation system worldwide, aiming to identify teenagers who used adult birth dates to open social media accounts. Flagged users may be moved to restricted Teen Accounts or removed, while the company also plans checks for Threads before the end of the year.Meta Expands AI Age Checks Globally to Protect Teens. (AI Illustration)Meta has expanded its artificial intelligence age-estimation system worldwide to identify teenagers who used adult birth dates to open social media accounts, the company said Monday.
The system can move flagged users into restricted Teen Accounts or remove them from the platforms. Meta says it is also extending age checks to Facebook and plans to bring a similar system to Threads before the end of the year.
The company said millions more young people worldwide would be placed in Teen Accounts after the global rollout. The accounts are private by default, limit some content and prevent strangers from sending direct messages to teen users.
Meta’s system scans account details for clues such as birthday celebrations or school grades. It also assesses visual cues in photos and videos, but Meta said it does not use facial recognition.
Teen Accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Messenger can limit how long users spend on the apps, what content they see and whom they can message. In countries that prohibit social media use below a certain age, Meta may shut down an account entirely.
In the United States, Meta plans to cap app use for users under 18 at two hours a day and impose a midnight-to-6 a.m. curfew.
In Australia, Meta said it had started using an Apple feature that verifies a user’s age range during phone setup and shares it with downloaded apps.
Meta said it supports legislation requiring app stores to verify users’ ages, describing that approach as “more effective” than asking many developers to collect age information separately.
The company said it had already introduced the age-estimation system in more than 20 countries before the worldwide expansion. It has urged competitors to adopt similar checks.
Meta linked the rollout to a lawsuit brought by 29 U.S. states and cosigned by 52 U.S. attorneys general. The suit accused the company of designing Facebook and Instagram to addict children and collect their personal data, failing to do enough to verify users’ ages, and encouraging minors to bypass existing checks.
The lawsuit was settled out of court in August, with Meta agreeing to pay plaintiffs up to $18bn.
“Since first introducing this technology, we’ve been placing more teens in age-appropriate protections and are encouraged by the results,” Meta said. “Based on that success, today we’re expanding this technology globally.”
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