Instagram has over a billion monthly active users - with 31% of them under the age of 18. Instagram is now working to verify the ages of its users for a safer way to display age-appropriate content.
As of late, Instagram has started testing new ways to verify the age of its users by face-scanning artificial intelligence tools, having mutual friends of the same age, and or uploading a legal identification card.
Meta — the parent company of both Facebook and Instagram — aims to “bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses,” according to their website.
After some parents raised concerns about the facial recognition technology, Meta announced that the technology will be used only for age confirmation. The purpose of Instagram and Meta’s new AI technology is to reassure parents that the youngest users will see content that is more age-appropriate.
“We are giving people a variety of options to verify their age and see what works best,” said Erica Finkle, Meta’s director of data governance and public policy.
While Instagram tries to make its app a safer place for minors, facial recognition can pose problems. There have been errors with facial recognition tools for those who look younger or older than their age, according to The National Institute of Standards and Technology. In addition, there is strong evidence that the technology is racially and gender-biased, causing public confusion according to the NIST.
“There is a wide range of performance and there’s certainly work to be done,” said Craig Watson, manager of NIST’s research group that studies biometric technology, said in an interview with USA TODAY “The main message is don’t try to generalize the results across all the technology.”
As Instagram continues to work on its new AI technology, they’re confident this next step in age verification will help shape the young users’ algorithm for safer more age-appropriate content.
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