Meta to Detect Teenagers With Fake Birthdays Using AI-Powered Height, Bone Structure Analysis

Meta is adding new weapons to its age-detection arsenal to ensure teenagers and those under the age of 13 aren't faking their date of birth to access the platform. The latest tool is an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered visual analysis system that goes through users' photos and videos and picks up on cues that might reveal the true age of the user. Alongside, the Menlo Park-based social media giant is expanding its protective system that automatically places teenagers in Teen Accounts once the system is confident that the user posing as an adult is underage.

Meta Adds New AI Age Detection Tool

In a newsroom post, the tech giant shared an update on its age assurance technology, revealing new tools and expansions. The social media giant has been working towards teenager protection for years and has started using AI for detection recently. So far, the system monitored and picked clues from suspected accounts to gauge if the user was a teenager posing as an adult or really above the age of 18.

But now, the company has added a new tool, which it calls the AI visual analysis. Meta emphasises that it is not a facial recognition technology, and it cannot identify a specific person in an image. What it does is analyse the user's photos and videos and, using various themes and cues, such as height and bone structure, try to determine the user's age. These visual clues are corroborated by the contextual clues (the comments, captions, and the content a user interacts with), before an action is taken.

As per Meta's policies, any user under the age of 13 cannot use platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, anyone between the ages of 13 and 17 is automatically placed into a Teen Account, which comes with additional protection and ensures an age-appropriate experience for users.

The age assurance technology automatically places teenagers in Teen Accounts once it determines that the user is underage. In case it makes a mistake, the user can always verify their age by submitting an identity proof. So far, this automatic teenager protection system has only been available in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US on Instagram.

Now, Meta is expanding the safety feature to 27 countries in the European Union and Brazil. Additionally, the system is also being expanded to Facebook in the US for the first time. Facebook users in the EU and the UK will get the feature in June.