Meta said on Monday, November 9, that it would expand its AI-powered age-estimation technology globally on Instagram, a move expected to place millions more teenagers under Teen Account protections, even if their profile birth dates indicate that they are adults.
Meta's AI technology does not rely solely on the date of birth entered by users. It examines profiles for contextual clues, including mentions of school grades and birthday celebrations, across posts, comments, bios and captions. Meta has also described a separate visual-analysis system that examines photographs and videos for general age-related clues, such as height and bone structure, to help identify underage accounts.
Accounts identified as likely belonging to users aged 13 to 17 are placed in Teen Accounts, which are private by default and restrict who can contact teenagers. They also include protections against harmful comments and content, as well as time-management features. Teen Accounts are available on Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. Meta is continuing to roll out the technology on Facebook and plans to introduce similar technology globally on Threads later this year. Children under 13 are not permitted to create accounts on its platforms.
In the United States, parents will begin receiving Instagram notifications this month explaining how teenagers are placed in age-appropriate settings, Meta said. The company also announced an in-feed video for parents, which will link to an explanatory article by internet safety advocate Larry Magid. The article will be available to parents worldwide.
In Australia, Meta has begun voluntarily using Apple's age-range signal as an additional method to determine users' ages. The company argued that protections would remain uneven unless app stores and developers were required to participate. It said it supported legislation requiring app stores to verify users' ages and obtain parental consent at that level.
The global expansion comes as Meta faces multiple lawsuits alleging that its platforms harm young users. In August, Meta agreed to settlements worth up to $18 billion with 48 US states, Washington, DC, and US territories over allegations that its platforms harmed young users. The agreements included commitments to strengthen measures to identify teenagers and children under 13.
As part of a separate agreement with 52 bipartisan attorneys general, Meta said it was "investing in even stronger technology" to identify accounts that might belong to children under 13. The company also pledged to strengthen its technology for identifying teenagers aged 13 to 17, including those who provide adult birth dates.
In October, Meta also settled with two young plaintiffs in a Los Angeles trial examining allegations that Instagram and Facebook were designed to be addictive and contributed to mental health problems and disordered eating.
India has also seen discussions around restricting children's access to social media, although the Union government has denied plans to impose a blanket ban on social media access for those under 18. Australia introduced a minimum age of 16 for social media accounts on December 10, 2025, requiring platforms including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok and Threads to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from holding accounts.
However, age-assurance technologies have also raised concerns among experts about privacy, data security and the possibility of incorrectly identifying users' ages. (with inputs from media organisations)