Instagram's AI may catch teens lying about their age
My own niece has told me for years that she and her friends could get around age restrictions on Facebook and Instagram when they were younger.They knew how easy it was to make themselves appear older online.
And I suspect plenty of parents have heard similar stories.So when I heard that Meta was expanding its AI technology to identify teens who lie about their age, my first thought was, it's about time.On November 9, Meta announced a worldwide expansion of its AI age-estimation technology.
The system looks for accounts that may belong to teenagers, even when someone has entered an adult birthday.Meta says the expansion will place millions more young users into Instagram's built-in Teen Account protections.The move comes as lawsuits and growing public pressure push Meta to take greater responsibility for protecting young users.
After years of concerns about children getting around social media age restrictions, this could be one of the company's most significant attempts yet to address the problem.But how does Instagram's AI figure out someone's age? And can parents trust it to get things right?Missed CyberGuy LIVE? Watch the replay and discover 5 ways to travel smarter and save money.Our free CyberGuy LIVE class, 5 Ways to Travel Smarter and Save Money, has ended, but you can still watch the full replay.
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(Javier Zayaz/iStock)For years, entering a birthday was one of the easiest ways to tell Instagram how old you we...