Instagram is extending its use of artificial intelligence to estimate how old its users really are, and it will automatically apply teen restrictions to accounts it believes belong to people under 18, regardless of the birth date they provided when signing up.
Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, announced the global expansion on Monday, according to a report by Geo News. The company said the technology should help it find millions of teenagers who have been using the app without the protections designed for their age group.
How the Age Estimation System Works
Rather than trusting the birthday typed in at registration, the system looks at signals drawn from how people use the platform to judge whether they are likely under 18.
This approach targets a long-standing weakness of social media age checks: anyone can enter a false date of birth. By relying on behaviour rather than self-reported data, Meta aims to catch teens who presented themselves as adults.
What Changes for Accounts Flagged as Teens
Users the system identifies as teenagers are moved automatically into Instagram's Teen Accounts. These settings limit who can reach out to the user, filter potentially harmful content and give parents additional oversight tools.
For users aged 16 and younger, certain safety settings cannot be loosened without a parent's approval. That gives families a direct role in deciding how much freedom younger teens have on the app.
Restrictions, Not Bans
Meta stressed that being under 18 does not by itself lead to removal from Instagram. Teens identified by the system keep their accounts, but with tighter defaults.
Children under 13 are handled differently. Meta uses separate technology to find and delete accounts belonging to users below that age, which is the platform's minimum requirement.
Parent Notifications and Regional Differences
Parents in the United States are set to start receiving notifications this month that explain how the age-detection technology operates.
In Australia, Instagram is adding another layer by drawing on age-range information from Apple to help determine whether a user is a child. The move reflects how platforms are increasingly leaning on device and operating system makers to verify age.
Legal Pressure Behind the Expansion
The changes follow Meta's agreement to multibillion-dollar settlements in lawsuits that accused its platforms of damaging young people's mental health.
Meta has rejected claims that it deliberately harmed children, but it committed to strengthening its safety measures as part of its response. The wider rollout of age estimation fits within that commitment.
The technology is also being introduced on Facebook, and a comparable rollout for Threads is planned later this year. Meta has encouraged rivals such as TikTok and YouTube to put similar systems in place.
What It Means for Platforms and Families
For the broader social media industry, Meta's push signals that self-declared ages are losing credibility as a safety tool. Companies facing regulatory and legal scrutiny may feel growing pressure to adopt behaviour-based detection of their own.
For founders building consumer apps, the shift underlines that age assurance is becoming a baseline expectation rather than an optional feature. For parents and teens, it means Instagram's default experience will increasingly depend on what the platform infers, not just what users tell it.
Source: Geo News
