Meta is beefing up its age-verification mechanisms with an AI system that analyzes images and videos on Instagram and Facebook for “visual cues,” such as height and bone structure, to identify and delete accounts of users under the age of 13. The company announced the move amid a wave of cases in which hundreds of children have managed to evade social network access restrictions, even through simple tricks such as drawing on a mustache.

The new approach is part of a series of measures Meta adopted as part of an AI-based security strategy designed to correct the limitations of traditional methods, which rely heavily on self-reported age. With this change, the company seeks to reduce the ease with which minors access platforms that, in theory, are restricted to them.

In a press release, Meta explained that it is implementing several tools to identify contextual indicators that allow estimating a person's age. This process includes the analysis of posts, comments, bios, and descriptions, with special attention to references related to school years or birthday celebrations—elements that can offer clues about the real age of the person who manages the account.

These tools are in addition to automated analysis techniques aimed at detecting physical traits from imagery shared to Meta's social platforms. These include characteristics such as height and bone structure. Meta is careful to stipulate that this system is not face recognition, as it does not seek to identify specific individuals in images or videos. Instead, the company notes that, “by combining these visual insights with our analysis of text and interactions, we can significantly increase the number of underage accounts we identify and remove.”

If, based on these elements, Meta suspects that an account is managed by a child under 13, it will be suspended. The user will have to revalidate their age using the procedures established by the company to regain access; otherwise, the profile will be permanently deleted.

Meta also announced that it will expand the scope of its technology to detect users between the ages of 13 and 15 and automatically assign them teen accounts. This type of profile incorporates content restrictions and parental controls enabled by default, with the aim of providing a safer environment for this age group.

Meta began implementing age-verification tech in 2024 for Instagram users in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Now, the mechanism will be extended to Instagram accounts in Brazil and 27 European Union countries. In addition, these practices will be applied for the first time to Facebook users in the US, with plans to expand to the EU and UK next month.

Looking All Grown-Up

The new measures have been interpreted as a response to a preliminary ruling recently issued by the European Commission, which concluded that the company led by Mark Zuckerberg is in breach of the Digital Services Act for allegedly failing to effectively prevent children under 13 from using its platforms. The EU body found that the company lacks sufficiently effective mechanisms to block such access and that its current systems for identifying and suspending accounts below the age threshold are insufficient.

These criticisms are supported by the results of a survey conducted by the nonprofit Internet Matters. After surveying nearly 1,300 children and their parents in the UK, the study revealed that approximately one-third of children have successfully evaded government-imposed restrictions on access to social networking sites. In some cases, the methods employed are particularly striking.

The report, titled “The Online Safety Act: Are Children Safe Online?” showed that 46 percent of 9- to 16-year-olds believe that circumventing age controls is very easy. In total, however, only 32 percent admitted to breaking the rules.

Among the most common techniques is registration with a false date of birth, a widespread practice. Other methods include the use of official IDs of older people, submitting verification videos with adult faces, using video game characters in place of real faces, and drawing on mustaches to fool automated systems.

The mother of a 12-year-old boy told researchers that she discovered her son using an eyebrow pencil to draw a mustache in an attempt to appear older to the verification system. The result was, to say the least, unusual: The system classified the child as a 15-year-old.

In its official blog, Meta says that no single company will be able to solve the challenge of effective and timely age verification in digital environments. Instead, it's suggesting legislation that forces app stores to verify the age of users, as well as to establish parental approval systems. The intention is that this information can be shared with apps and their developers, providing a “centralized, consistent, and privacy-preserving point of age assurance.”

This story originally appeared in WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.