Instagram has been figuring out how to better manage their users throughout the years – not just to follow regulations, but also be able to target age-appropriate and relevant content. In its latest move, Instagram is testing a new set of features — video selfies, vouching from adult friends and providing an ID — designed to verify ages when people say they are 18 and older.
This will impact current users who try to change their age from under 18 to 18 and over. If you don’t have a valid ID listed in Instagram’s acceptable ID list, you can choose the video selfie method for age verification. Once the user uploads the video, Meta shares it with Yoti, which verifies their age using its specially trained AI. Once the verification process is over, both companies delete the data.
The third way to verify your age is ”social vouching.” You need three of your friends aged 18 and above who to vouch for your age.
Meta added that it’s continuously developing AI to detect users who are lying about their age. While it doesn’t scan photos and videos, it looks for signals like birthday posts to identify the true age of a user.
These changes are aimed to help protect the platforms younger users. Last year, it launched restrictions for teens like making accounts private by default for under-16 users, blocking DMs from unknown adults and stopping advertisers to serve targeted ads based on teens’ interests and activities. Instagram’s rival TikTok also introduced similar limitations for users under 18 last year
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