Instagram is expanding its AI age check worldwide. Since 9 November, Meta has been using age estimates to move accounts it believes belong to 13 to 17 year olds into Teen Account protections, even when the birthday says adult. Teens may see stricter privacy and messaging settings. Adults who are wrongly moved can verify their age to switch back.
The same technology is rolling out on Facebook, and Meta says Threads gets a similar global rollout later this year.
How Instagram’s AI age check decides you might be a teen
Meta says its system looks across a whole profile for clues, not just the birthday field. Those include birthday celebrations and mentions of school grades in posts, comments, bios and captions. Since May, Meta has also been scanning photos and videos for general visual cues that suggest a young user. It stresses this is not facial recognition and does not identify who is in the picture, only estimates an age range.
The technology was first tested in the US in April 2025, then expanded to the UK, Canada and Australia in September 2025, and to the EU and Brazil in May this year. Meta says it is now confident enough to switch it on everywhere.
A separate system looks for children under 13, who are not allowed on Instagram at all. Those accounts are deactivated, and the holder has to prove their age to stop the account from being deleted. The global expansion announced this week is about teens being moved into Teen Account protections, not account removals.
What changes when an account becomes a Teen Account
Teen Accounts are the restricted mode Instagram launched in 2024. Once an account is placed there, these defaults apply:
| Setting | Teen Account default |
|---|---|
| Account visibility | Private, so new followers need approval |
| Direct messages | Only from people they follow or are already connected to |
| Tags and mentions | Only from people they follow |
| Comments and DM requests | Hidden Words filter on its strictest setting |
| Content | Strictest sensitive content setting, 13+ content rules |
| Time reminder | A prompt to leave the app after 60 minutes a day |
| Sleep mode | 10 PM to 7 AM, notifications muted, auto-replies to DMs |
Age decides how much a teen can undo. Teens aged 13 to 15 need a parent’s permission, through Instagram’s supervision tools, to make any of these settings less strict. Teens aged 16 and 17 can change some settings themselves, but not the content restrictions.
If you are an adult and Instagram puts you in a Teen Account
Any AI that guesses age from photos and captions will make mistakes, and Meta admits as much. It says that if it gets someone wrong, they have the option to change their settings back.
In practice, Instagram treats an attempt to move an account from under 18 to 18 or over as something that needs proof. Meta says it will ask you to verify your age using one of two methods:
- Government ID: upload an ID such as a driving licence. Meta says the ID is encrypted, stored securely and deleted within 30 days.
- Video selfie: Instagram shares an image from the selfie with Yoti, a third-party age verification company. Yoti estimates your age from facial features and sends Meta only that estimate. Both companies then delete the image. Meta says the technology recognises age, not identity.
Instagram began offering both options in India in October 2022, when it expanded its age verification test to India and Brazil.
A video selfie avoids uploading an ID, but it relies on a third-party age estimate and may not work for everyone. Check the verification options Instagram offers in your account.
Using your real birthday helps Instagram apply the right protections. It cannot guarantee that an automated age estimate will be correct.
What parents should do now
Meta has only announced its in-feed explainer video for US parents this month, but the steps behind it apply anywhere:
- Check the birthday together. Meta and ConnectSafely both say the most useful step is making sure your teen’s account has their real date of birth, and explaining why it matters.
- Use supervision instead of a fake age. Some parents let a child claim to be older so they can use adult features. Meta’s Family Center guidance points out this removes every protection. Supervision lets you loosen specific settings for an older teen while keeping the rest.
- Know what supervision shows. Parents can see who their teen has messaged in the last seven days (not the messages), set daily time limits, block Instagram at certain hours and see the topics their teen follows.
It also helps to talk through what a teen sees on their feed. Our guide to spotting AI-generated images and deepfakes offers examples to start with.
Why Meta is doing this now
The timing is not just about safety. Meta says this expansion builds on an agreement with 52 attorneys general in the US to strengthen how it identifies teens and children under 13. Meta is also pushing for laws that would make app stores verify age and share it with apps. In Australia it has already started using Apple’s age-range signal, which tells apps a user’s age range when a parent has set it up on the device. Meta has only mentioned Australia for that signal so far.
My take: estimated age checks are imperfect, and the visual analysis will understandably worry some users. But compared with forcing every adult to upload an ID, Meta’s approach only asks for proof when someone wants out of teen protections. For most adults, nothing changes.
- SourceInstagram: Teen Accounts
