Instagram’s latest AI can detect whether teenagers are lying about their age.

Teens flourish on social media, connecting with others, sharing special experiences, and navigating a constantly changing digital environment. However, beneath all of the fun and constant scrolling is a more somber reality: safer online spaces are required.

Instagram, one of the most popular platforms among teenagers, is enhancing its efforts to protect younger users by using AI to detect those who lie about their age. This proactive step aims to safeguard teen mental health and reduce exposure to harmful content, but will it be effective?

Meta, Instagram’s parent company, has faced criticism for its handling of teen user data and content. A 2021 whistleblower revealed that Instagram’s impact on teenage girls’ mental health could be detrimental, leading to lawsuits accusing the platform of contributing to the teen mental health crisis. Issues like addiction, harmful content, and online bullying are real concerns.

To address this, Instagram is rolling out new AI-powered technology designed to catch teens who falsify their age. The system, called an “adult classifier,” will analyze interactions, followers, and birthday posts to predict a user’s actual age. If the system suspects someone is under 18, it will automatically convert their account to a teen account with stricter privacy settings, limiting who can contact them and what content they can access.

This marks a proactive effort by Meta, which has already begun using self-reported birthdays to move teens into restricted accounts. The goal is to make it more difficult for teens to bypass age restrictions. Given that teens often find creative ways to get around age limits, such as lying about their age, Instagram’s new AI system could change how age verification is handled on social media.

Research shows that many minors falsely report their age online, with a third of them stating they are 18 or older on social media platforms. Instagram is targeting this loophole with its new AI tool, which flags repeated attempts to create an account with different birthdays using the same email address.

For users who still try to bypass the system, Meta plans to ask for formal identification or a selfie for verification. This marks the end of the era when a friend’s confirmation was enough to get past age checks.

However, age verification on social media isn’t just a challenge for Meta. Both Apple and Google have resisted calls to enforce age checks before app downloads. Experts warn that shifting this responsibility to app stores may only delay the issue without resolving it.

Although TikTok is the most popular platform among teens, with 67% of 13- to 17-year-olds using the app, Instagram remains a key player. As concerns grow over how to protect young users online, Meta’s use of AI for age verification is just one step in the ongoing effort to make social media safer for teens. While it may not be a perfect solution, it represents progress in addressing this complex issue.

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