Instagram Ai Age Detection Aims To Catch Teens Pretending To Be Adults

[KENNEDY FELTON]

YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO FOOL YOUR FOLLOWERS… BUT INSTAGRAM’S NEW A-I COULD KNOW YOUR TRUE AGE – ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE A TEEN PRETENDING TO BE AN ADULT.

TEEN ACCOUNTS FIRST LAUNCHED LAST SEPTEMBER – A FEATURE DESIGNED TO AUTOMATICALLY ENROLL YOUNGER USERS INTO A MORE PROTECTED VERSION OF META’S APPS.

[ADAM MOSSERI | HEAD OF INSTAGRAM]

“I TALK TO PARENTS ALL THE TIME astir nan concerns PARENTS HAVE ABOUT THEIR KIDS BEING ONLINE AND I CONSISTENTLY HEAR THREE THINGS. ONE, CONCERNS ABOUT WHO CAN CONTACT THEM. TWO, WHAT CONTENT THEY SEE. AND THREE, HOW MUCH TIME THEY SPEND ONLINE.” 

THAT MEANS ANYONE UNDER 16 GETS DEFAULTED TO A PRIVATE ACCOUNT… CAN’T GO LIVE ON INSTAGRAM WITHOUT PARENTAL PERMISSION… AND HAS UNWANTED IMAGES HIDDEN IN THEIR DMS.

THE FEATURE APPLIES ACROSS INSTAGRAM… FACEBOOK… AND MESSENGER – EVEN SENDING REMINDERS IF TEENS SPEND MORE THAN 60 MINUTES ON THE PLATFORM.

BUT IT DOESN’T TAKE MUCH TO BYPASS THOSE RESTRICTIONS… ALL IT TAKES IS ENTERING AN OLDER BIRTH YEAR IN YOUR ACCOUNT SETTINGS.

NOW META SAYS IT’S USING A-I TO OUTSMART THE WORKAROUND – BY SCANNING FOR USERS WHO CLAIM TO BE ADULTS… BUT MIGHT ACT LIKE TEENS ONLINE.

THE TECHNOLOGY LOOKS AT WHO USERS INTERACT WITH… WHAT THEY WATCH… AND EVEN BIRTHDAY POSTS TO ESTIMATE A MORE ACCURATE AGE.

A HUMAN REVIEW TEAM CAN THEN STEP IN TO VERIFY THOSE DATA POINTS – AND REASSIGN ACCOUNTS TO THE TEEN EXPERIENCE IF NEEDED.

WHILE SOCIAL MEDIA DOESN’T AFFECT ALL TEENS THE SAME WAY… A 2022 PEW RESEARCH STUDY FOUND THAT 62-PERCENT OF U-S TEENAGERS AGED 13 TO 17 USE INSTAGRAM.

AND A 20-24 STUDY FROM THE AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION FOUND THAT TEENS SPEND AN AVERAGE OF NEARLY 5 HOURS A DAY ON PLATFORMS LIKE YOUTUBE… TIKTOK.. AND INSTAGRAM.

OF THOSE WITH THE HIGHEST USAGE… 41-PERCENT RATED THEIR OVERALL MENTAL HEALTH AS POOR. 

THAT LEVEL OF USAGE RAISES RED FLAGS AMONG HEALTH EXPERTS AND PARENTS.

MANY SOCIAL MEDIA APPS – LIKE INSTAGRAM – HAVE FEATURES LIKE INFINITE SCROLLING… ALGORITHM DRIVEN CONTENT… AND UNPREDICTABLE NOTIFICATIONS – KEEPING USERS ENGAGED FOR LONGER.

ANOTHER UPDATE – PARENTS WILL NOW RECEIVE NOTIFICATIONS FROM INSTAGRAM… PROMPTING CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF ENTERING THE CORRECT AGE ONLINE.

SINCE LAUNCHING THE FEATURE… META SAYS IT’S IDENTIFIED AND MOVED MORE THAN 54 MILLION USERS INTO TEEN ACCOUNTS.

IN A BLOG POST… THE COMPANY WROTE– “We’ll proceed our efforts to thief guarantee teens are placed successful age-appropriate online experiences, for illustration Teen Accounts, but nan astir effective measurement to understand property is by obtaining parental support and verifying property connected nan app store.”