Instagram is expanding its use of artificial intelligence to determine if teens are lying about their ages on the app. The company has been using AI to determine people’s ages, but will now proactively look for teen accounts it suspects belong to users who entered inaccurate birthdates when they signed up. If it is determined that a user is misrepresenting their age, the account will automatically become a “teen account.” Teen accounts have more restrictions than adult accounts.
They are private by default, and private messages are restricted so teens can only receive them from people they follow or are already connected to. Advertisements targeted at teens, particularly those promoting cosmetic procedures, will be limited. Teens will also receive notifications if they are on Instagram for more than 60 minutes.
Age detection for teen safety
A “sleep mode” will be enabled that turns off notifications and sends auto-replies to direct messages from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m.
Meta says it uses signals such as the type of content the account interacts with, profile information, and account creation date to determine the owner’s age. The heightened measures arrive as social media companies face increased scrutiny over how their platforms affect the mental health and well-being of younger users.
A growing number of states are also trying to pass age verification laws, although they have faced court challenges. Meta and other companies support putting the onus on app stores to verify ages. They face criticism that they don’t do enough to make their products safe for children or verify that no kids under 13 use them.
Instagram will also send notifications to parents with information about how they can have conversations with their teens on the importance of providing the correct age online.
Image Credits: Photo by Jeremy Levin on Pexels
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