Social media companies are trying harder to know which users are kids

Meta, along with Google, TikTok, and Roblox, are intensifying efforts to accurately identify which users on their platforms are children. Determining the age of users is crucial for implementing effective child safety measures. In Meta's recent landmark legal settlement, age assurance measures were among the most detailed requirements, given the importance of knowing which accounts belong to kids.

However, improving age verification technology comes with significant challenges, including privacy concerns for both children and adults who may need to prove they are over 18.

The $18 billion settlement with Meta resolves claims from state attorneys general who alleged that the company's design of Instagram and Facebook encouraged addictive user behavior, particularly among younger audiences. The agreement, which covers 48 U.S. states and territories, requires Meta to refine its age verification approach within a year.

While the company accepts government IDs for age verification, it deletes them within 30 days, but many users are uncomfortable sharing such personal information with Big Tech companies.

To address this, Meta and other tech companies, including Google, are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence (AI) to estimate users' ages. Google's YouTube employs AI to distinguish between adult and minor watch histories based on viewing patterns. Meta uses a similar AI-based system on Instagram, analyzing contextual clues such as posts about birthdays or school activities, as well as user interactions and login times to estimate ages.

The company also examines photos for visual cues like height or bone structure, although it does not identify specific individuals. Meta plans to strengthen its age-checking technology through the use of both in-house tools and third-party solutions, subject to regular audits to monitor effectiveness and minimize false positive rates—instances where minors are incorrectly identified as over 18.

If a user is under 13 and removed from Meta's platforms, the company will examine the ages of their friends as well. Meanwhile, platforms like Roblox, which allow children under 13 to sign up, require users to take a video selfie for age estimation. This selfie is then deleted after processing.