Instagram uses AI to detect and restrict adolescents who lie about their age

By Canuto

Artificial intelligence becomes the new Instagram ally to protect adolescents. Goal reinforces the use of AI to detect accounts in which young people falsify their age and automatically apply restrictions.

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• Meta implements AI to identify adolescents who lie about their age on Instagram.
• It restricts the accounts identified by AI automatically.
• Adolescents labeled accounts include limitations such as content filters and contact restriction.

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The growing concern for the safety of children and adolescents on digital platforms has led technology companies as a goal to reinforce protection measures in their most popular products.

Instagram, one of the social networks most used by young people globally, now focuses on the verification of the age of its users through artificial intelligence (AI), seeking to prevent minors from making fun of controls and accessing restricted content.

In a notice this Monday, Goal He informed that he is using AI technology to identify adolescent users who falsify their age by creating Instagram accounts. From now on, when the AI ​​detects a suspicious account, Instagram will automatically convert it into a “teenager account” – even if the user placed a date of birth indicating majority of age.

Instagram will notify parents about measures, communicating them on how they can discuss with their children about the importance of providing the right age online, he reported Tech crunch.

Active Instagram for adolescent protection

The system driven by the AI ​​of Goal It works detecting signals such as the content with which an account, profile information and the creation date interact. It even monitors birthday publications or reports from other users. If technology makes an error by identifying someone’s age, the possibility of correcting information or adjustments is offered.

The accounts marked as “teenagers”, originally introduced in 2024, incorporate privacy restrictions, limit of interactions with unknown adults and automatic filters that block access to certain content.

Private by default, these accounts also limit the reception of direct messages only to known contacts and restrict the display of content considered “sensitive”, such as fights or promotions of cosmetic procedures.

Besides, Instagram Implement screen time controls, sending notifications to minors if they exceed 60 minutes a day in the application. From 10 pm to 7 am, a “sleep mode” is activated that silence notifications and sends automatic responses to direct messages. This seeks to encourage healthier habits and reduce night exposure to digital stimuli.

“The digital world continues to evolve and we have to evolve with it”, The company wrote in a publication on Monday informing the effort with Ia.”That is why it is important that we work together with the parents to ensure that as many teenagers as possible have the protection configuration that comes with Teen Accounts.

New barriers and protection mechanisms for adolescents

Only parents can modify some of these configurations of user accounts under 16, thus strengthening parental control. According to Goal, They have already migrated at least 54 million adolescents to these protected accounts, and 97% of young people between 13 and 15 years remain within this controlled environment.

These measures occur in the midst of a growing public and legal scrutiny faced by technological ones for the impact of their services on the mental health and well -being of young people.

Legislators, child protection agencies and parents of parents worldwide have been demanding more control over minors and reinforced protection due to possible digital risks, from cyberbullying to exposure to content not suitable.

In the United States, different have tried to approve age verification regulations, although they have found challenges in court due to privacy and freedom of expression issues.

This update is also communicated only two weeks after Goal activated restricted accounts for teenagers also in Facebook and Messengerthus expanding the comprehensive approach to other platforms of the company.

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Article written with the help of an artificial intelligence, edited by Hannah Pérez / Diariobitcoin

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