Meta has announced new AI-powered age assurance measures aimed at improving how teens are identified and protected across its platforms. The update focuses on placing suspected teens into age-appropriate experiences, strengthening enforcement against underage users, and expanding parental support tools.
AI age detection and Teen Account protections
Meta is expanding its systems to identify users who may be teenagers—even if an adult birthdate is entered—and automatically place them into Teen Account protections.
These protections are available across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, and include:
- Limits on who can contact teens
- Restrictions on sensitive content
- Default safety settings for users under 18
Teen users are also placed into a 13+ content setting by default. Meta states that hundreds of millions of teens have been enrolled into these experiences since 2024.
AI visual analysis and expanded detection
Meta is introducing AI-based visual analysis alongside existing detection methods to improve identification of underage users.
The system evaluates:
- Activity signals such as posts, captions, comments, and bios
- Contextual indicators like birthday references or school-related mentions
- Visual cues in photos and videos, including general physical traits
Detection systems are also being expanded across additional surfaces, including Instagram Reels, Instagram Live, and Facebook Groups.
Meta states that this approach is not facial recognition, and does not identify individuals. Instead, it estimates age ranges using general patterns.
Accounts identified as potentially underage may be:
- Deactivated
- Required to complete age verification to regain access
Enforcement, reporting, and verification
Meta is strengthening enforcement systems to detect, remove, and limit underage usage:
- AI is used to identify and remove users under 13
- Reporting tools have been simplified across apps and the Help Center
- AI-assisted review systems apply consistent criteria and deliver faster and more accurate outcomes than human-only review
- Additional safeguards are being developed to prevent repeat account creation by suspected underage users
The company continues to enforce a minimum age requirement of 13 years.
If a user is suspected of misrepresenting their age, including attempts to change age details, verification is required through:
- Government-issued ID
- Facial age estimation tools from Yoti
Parental tools and support
Meta is introducing updates to help parents manage teen experiences:
- Notifications will be sent to parents with guidance on checking and confirming teen age
- Tips are provided to support conversations about accurate age information online
- Family Center tools remain available globally for parental controls and insights
Policy approach to age assurance
Meta states that age verification is an industry-wide challenge and proposes a centralized approach at the platform level.
The company suggests app stores and operating systems should handle age verification to:
- Enable consistent age checks across apps
- Reduce repeated verification processes
- Support a more privacy-focused approach
Availability and rollout
- Instagram: Expanding AI-based teen detection to 27 countries in the EU and Brazil
- Facebook: Rolling out in the United States, followed by the UK and EU
- Instagram: Broader global rollout planned over time
Additional rollout details:
- The system was previously launched in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom
- Advanced features such as AI visual analysis are currently limited to select countries and will expand further