Read the Meta blog post here.

Meta Platforms has introduced new AI-powered age-assurance measures to identify teenagers and underage users on Instagram and Facebook. The company will expand systems that automatically assign suspected teenage users to “Teen Account” protections, even if they registered with an adult birthdate.

Expanded safeguards will be introduced for Instagram users in the European Union and Brazil, and for Facebook users in the United States. The company stated that similar Facebook protections will be available in the UK and the EU in June.

Meta also announced it is strengthening enforcement against users under 13, who are not permitted on its platforms, by using AI systems to analyze behavioral and profile-based signals to identify likely underage accounts.

AI systems will analyze profiles and visual cues: The company stated that its AI systems estimate age using signals such as account activity, profile information, social interactions, and visual indicators from photos and videos. The blog post also suggests that the systems may consider cues such as height and bone structure. Meta clarified that the technology does not use facial recognition to identify individuals.

Accounts identified as belonging to teenagers will automatically receive stricter protections, including restrictions on messaging from strangers, reduced exposure to sensitive content, and limits on certain platform features.

Meta is streamlining underage account reporting by simplifying in-app and Help Center reporting flows. The company is also enhancing its response to these reports. Human review teams are now supported by AI models that apply consistent evaluation criteria to each report. Testing has shown that AI-driven reviews provide greater accuracy and faster resolutions than human reviews alone.

Meta calls for app stores to step up at the industry level: While investing in its own systems, Meta is also advocating for an industry-wide solution. The company believes legislation should require app stores to verify users’ ages and share this information with apps and developers to enable age-appropriate experiences. Meta notes that this approach is already popular with the public, with 88% of US parents supporting it.

Requiring parental approval and age verification at the app store or operating system level, Meta argues, provides a centralised, consistent, and privacy-preserving place for age assurance, rather than requiring every individual app to comply with different rules. The underlying position is clear: no single company can solve the age assurance problem alone.

Why this matters: Meta’s broader use of AI-based age assurance aligns with global efforts to regulate children’s access to social media. Governments across regions are urging technology companies to implement stronger age verification and child-safety measures.

The debate has intensified after Australia enacted a social media minimum age law restricting access for users under 16. Critics cite concerns about privacy, surveillance, and the reliability of age estimation, while supporters believe stronger restrictions are needed to protect minors from harmful content and addictive platform features.

The move comes amid regulatory scrutiny: The announcement comes amid growing global scrutiny of online child safety and age verification practices. Regulators in the European Union recently concluded that Meta failed to adequately prevent children under 13 from accessing Facebook and Instagram, potentially exposing the company to significant penalties under the EU’s Digital Services Act.

Meta is involved in a significant child-safety trial in New Mexico following a $375 million jury verdict. The state is requesting that the court require Meta to block users under 13, delete underage accounts and related data, link minors’ accounts to parents, restrict adult-minor messaging, and limit features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and school-hour notifications. Meta has stated that these demands are technically impractical and warned that it may withdraw its platforms from New Mexico if a workable solution cannot be found.

Also read:

• “No scientific evidence”: 438 scientists call for pause on age-based controls until benefits and risks understood
• Meta to Use AI to Detect and Move Teens to Protected Accounts
• Meta under fire in the US for allegedly allowing underage users to access its platforms