Meta, the technology company behind Facebook and Instagram, plans to\nuse artificial intelligence, or AI, to identify and remove user profiles\nunder the age of 13. Thirteen is the minimum age to create an account on\nthese social media platforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want young people to have a safe and positive online experience,\u201d\nMeta said in a press release in early May when announcing the move.<\/p>\n
As part of the effort, the company said that it would continue to\nlook for ways to identify accounts genuinely belonging to users who are\nnot old enough for the platform, but who registered with a false date of\nbirth to look older.<\/p>\n
The company will \u201cuse AI technology to analyse entire profiles to\nlook for contextual cues, such as birthday celebrations or mentions of\nschool grade level, to determine whether an account is likely owned by a\nuser under the age of consent,\u201d the press release stated. \u201cWe are\nlooking for these signals in various formats, such as posts, comments,\nbios, and captions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meta\u2019s plan to use its own AI, branded \u201cMeta AI\u201d, to hunt for\nunder-13 users was announced a few days after the European Commission\nreleased early findings that Meta had failed to \u201cprevent children under\n13 from using Instagram and Facebook\u201d in the European Union.<\/p>\n
Meta AI will search for skeletal structures that resemble\nchildren<\/p>\n
Meta said the AI would use contextual cues, such as posts about\nschool grade level or birthday party photos. But the AI would also\nevaluate factors such as height and facial bone structure in photos, a\npractice some regard as \u201cinvasive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nina Kolleck, Professor of Educational Theory and Socialisation at\nthe University of Potsdam, who has written a book about teenagers and\nsocial media titled Battle in the Minds (currently only available in\nGerman), told DW that Meta would need to build \u201ca very broad age-based\ndata profile\u201d before it could identify and remove under-age users.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI needs data to learn so that it can draw conclusions about age and\nbehaviour,\u201d Kolleck said.<\/p>\n
A company spokesperson told DW that Meta is not currently using data\nfrom children under 13 to train their AI.<\/p>\n
But Andy Przybylski, Professor of Human and Technology Behaviour at\nthe University of Oxford, told DW: \u201cThis is a very popular and very\nwrong idea that by collecting and processing data, faces and the\nbehaviour of young people invasively, we can keep them safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat actually happens is the creation of a verified advertising\ntarget list,\u201d Przybylski said.<\/p>\n
Age restrictions on social media remain a matter of debate<\/p>\n
Meta\u2019s latest move is just one development in an ongoing discussion\nabout teenagers and social media use.<\/p>\n
Australia and Indonesia recently enacted laws prohibiting anyone\nunder 16 from using Meta platforms and other social media sites such as\nTikTok.<\/p>\n
In the EU, countries such as Germany, France and Poland are also\nconsidering similar steps. However, the idea of age limits is not\nwithout critics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are real factors on these platforms that threaten healthy\nadolescent development: endless scrolling\u2026 unilateral recommendations\nencouraging beauty-focused use and triggering self-comparison or\ndiscriminatory content,\u201d said Stephan Dreyer, a senior legal and media\ngovernance researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research in\nGermany.<\/p>\n
Dreyer told DW that regulation should target characteristics of the\nplatform such as Instagram itself, not set a minimum age for users.<\/p>\n
A ban on social media for teenagers is seen as akin to \u201cabstinence\neducation\u201d<\/p>\n
Przybylski argued that age restrictions are not the right solution.\nInstead, he supports privacy regulation that prevents collection of data\nfrom users under 18, as well as better media literacy education for\nyoung people and their parents.<\/p>\n
Forbidding teenagers from using social media until a certain age\n\u201cuses the same logic as abstinence-based sex education,\u201d said\nPrzybylski. \u201cWe would also not automatically grant a licence just\nbecause someone reaches a certain age; they need to learn first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teenagers themselves are also sceptical of the idea. A representative\nUNICEF Germany survey in April 2026 showed that 74% of teenagers aged\n14\u201316 rejected a ban on social media for users under 16.<\/p>\n
UNICEF Germany spokesperson, Katja Sodomann, said that much of life\ntoday takes place on social media, and restricting teenagers\u2019 access\nwould limit their right to participate in social life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat especially applies to teenagers from vulnerable or minority\ngroups,\u201d she told DW. \u201cA refugee background may mean they cannot\ncommunicate with friends or family in their country of origin without\nsocial media. LGBTQ+ youth may find communities online. Teenagers with\ndisabilities who have limited mobility can use social media to stay\nconnected with friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot imagine Meta will delete that data\u201d<\/p>\n
Nadia, 42, a mother of two in the northern city of Bremen, Germany.\nHer 12-year-old son does not use social media, but her\nalmost-15-year-old daughter has an Instagram account.<\/p>\n
Nadia herself is active on social media, both personally and for\nwork, so she is aware of viral trends when they appear. She does not\nbelieve in age-based social media bans, and says media literacy is much\nmore important, especially for parents of teenagers. Yet she feels\nuncomfortable with the idea of Meta AI analysing social media accounts\nto filter out under-13 users.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find this very problematic,\u201d Nadia said. \u201cMeta\u201d<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/meta-to-use-ai-to-detect-users-ages-accounts-could-be-blocked-1779542706", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }