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Meta has announced the global expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) age-estimation technology to identify teenagers who misrepresent their ages online and automatically place them under its Teen Account protections on Instagram.
Meta disclosed this in a statement on Monday, November 9, 2026, adding that it was also introducing Apple’s age-range signal in Australia as an additional method of determining users’ ages.
The company said the expansion would bring built-in safeguards to millions more teenagers worldwide, including those who use adult birth dates when creating accounts to bypass age restrictions.
How the technology works
Announcing the global expansion, Meta said it was extending the technology to ensure more teenagers receive age-appropriate protections, regardless of the birth dates they provide when opening accounts.
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- “Today, we’re expanding our AI age-estimation technology globally to place millions more teens in Teen Account protections on Instagram,” the company said.
According to Meta, its AI technology identifies accounts it suspects belong to teenagers, even when users have entered adult birth dates during registration.
Once identified, the accounts are placed under Teen Account protections, which automatically restrict who can contact teenagers, the content they can access and the time they spend on the platforms.
The company said the technology addresses the difficulty of ensuring that teenagers accurately disclose their ages online, describing it as an industry-wide challenge.
Meta added that its experience with the technology had been encouraging, saying, “Since first introducing this technology, we’ve been placing more teens in age-appropriate protections and are encouraged by the results.”
The rollout is currently focused on Instagram, while Meta said it was continuing the rollout on Facebook. Similar technology is expected to begin launching globally on Threads later in 2026.
Meta strengthens child safety measures
Meta said the latest expansion builds on its recent agreement with 52 bipartisan attorneys general across US states, territories and the District of Columbia to strengthen how it identifies teenagers and children under 13 on its platforms.
As part of the agreement, the company said it was investing in stronger technology to proactively identify accounts that may belong to children under 13 and improving its systems for detecting teenagers aged 13 to 17 who provide incorrect birth dates.
- “We’re also strengthening the technology we use to identify accounts that may belong to teens between the ages of 13 and 17 so we can ensure those accounts are placed in experiences designed for teens, even if they give us an adult birthday,” the company said.
The company also called on other major platforms, including TikTok and YouTube, to adopt similar measures, arguing that teenagers use multiple applications and require consistent protections across the digital environment.
Growing focus on child safety online
Meta’s latest announcement follows a series of measures by the company to strengthen child safety across its platforms, amid growing regulatory and public pressure on social media companies to protect younger users.
- In September 2024, Meta introduced Teen Accounts on Instagram, automatically placing users under 18 in accounts with stricter privacy settings, content restrictions and limits on who could contact them.
Beyond restricting teenagers’ access to certain content and interactions, Instagram has also introduced measures to involve parents more directly in their online safety.
- In February 2026, Instagram announced plans to notify parents when teenagers repeatedly search for suicide or self-harm-related content on the platform. The alerts are designed to inform parents using its parental supervision tools and provide resources to help them discuss sensitive issues with their children.
In March 2026, the Federal Government began consultations on plans to introduce age restrictions for social media use, seeking input from parents, educators, young people and digital experts on how to strengthen online safety for children.
