How Instagram is using AI to uncover teen accounts lying about their age

If your teen has a fake birthday on their Instagram profile to get around age restriction policies, their days of beating the system may soon be over.

In a blog post, Instagram says that starting today it will use AI to detect users lying about their age and automatically move those accounts to one of the limited teen accounts that debuted last fall.

How will Instagram’s AI age detection work? 

Meta offered several examples. First, it will monitor which profiles and content an account interacts with. Since people in the same age range generally enjoy similar content and interact with each other, if a non‑teen account interacts heavily with teen accounts and teen‑related content, Meta may flag that account.

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Second, Meta will review what it calls “strong signals of age,” or things like birthday messages — for example, if another user posts something like “Screaming happy 15th birthday to my best friend.”

The company has used AI to determine age for a while, but what’s new is how it uses that information.

Meta will leave an internal note on these flagged accounts for further investigation.

What happens if Meta finds a teen account?

If Meta finds that an account is actually a teen in hiding, that account will get the same limitations as other teen accounts — they’re private by default, they cannot receive messages from strangers, and the platform limits the content they can see.

Instagram says it is aware that errors may occur, and if an account is mistakenly placed in the teen category, the user can verify their age to move it back.

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Also starting today, the platform will message parents of teen accounts with information on how to discuss the importance of providing a correct age online, and how parents can check to ensure their children are truthful about their age online.

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