Meta said Monday it is expanding Instagram’s AI age-estimation system worldwide so accounts it suspects belong to teens aged 13 to 17 can receive Teen Account safeguards even if registered with adult birth dates.
The company expects the expansion to bring millions more teens under those settings. Teen Accounts limit who can message young users, filter the content they see and include tools to help them manage time on the app. Users younger than 16 need a parent’s permission to loosen the settings.
The rollout addresses a gap in protections that depend on users entering their correct age when they sign up. Instagram can apply Teen Account settings when its system estimates that an account belongs to a teenager, regardless of the birth date listed on the profile.
Meta previously introduced the technology in the United States, Australia, Canada and the UK. In May, it announced a further expansion to the European Union and Brazil.
In Australia, Meta said it has also begun using an age-range signal from Apple. Parents can opt for the app store to confirm a teen’s age and assign an age range, which Apple then passes to developers when the teen downloads an app. Meta favors requiring app stores to verify ages and obtain parental consent, arguing that optional sharing leaves protections inconsistent across apps.
Instagram plans to show U.S. parents information about its age-estimation process this month. Meta said it is continuing to introduce the technology on Facebook and plans to begin a worldwide rollout of similar checks on Threads later in 2026.
