Meta’s New AI Can Flag Teens By Analyzing Height And Bone Structure Online

Meta is tightening its age assurance systems with a new wave of AI-powered moderation tools designed to detect underage users across Instagram and Facebook.

The company says its latest technology can now analyze visual and contextual signals, including height and bone structure, to estimate whether someone may be under 13 or falsely representing their age online.
 

TL;DR

 

• Meta’s AI can analyze height, bone structure, and profile activity to estimate user age.
• Accounts suspected to belong to underage users may be removed or forced into age verification.
• Teen Account protections are expanding across the EU, Brazil, and Facebook in the US.
• Parents will receive new notifications about helping teens verify their ages online.
• Meta says app stores should eventually handle centralized age verification.

 

Meta Will Use AI To Analyze Height And Bone Structure To Identify Underage Users

Meta said it has spent years building systems to identify and remove accounts belonging to users under 13, which remains the minimum age requirement for Instagram and Facebook.

Now, the company is expanding those efforts with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models capable of studying both text and visual content to estimate whether a user is underage.

The company explained that its AI systems scan profiles for contextual clues such as birthday celebrations, mentions of school grades, captions, bios, comments, and interactions that may indicate a younger age. These systems are also being extended into additional areas of its apps, including Instagram Reels, Instagram Live, and Facebook Groups.

More notably, Meta confirmed that it is introducing visual analysis technology capable of studying photos and videos for age-related indicators that text alone may miss. This includes analyzing broad visual cues such as height and bone structure to estimate someone’s general age.

Meta emphasized that the system is “not facial recognition” and does not attempt to identify a specific individual. Instead, it focuses on generalized age estimation using visual themes and contextual patterns.

If an account is suspected to belong to someone underage, Meta may deactivate it until the user completes an age verification process. This may involve submitting government identification or using Yoti’s facial age estimation tools.

 

Meta Expands Teen Account Protections Across Instagram And Facebook

The company is also scaling its Teen Account protections globally as part of its broader youth safety strategy. Since 2024, Meta says it has enrolled hundreds of millions of teens across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger into restricted age-appropriate experiences that limit who can contact teens and what content they can access.

Last year, Meta introduced systems that proactively identify users who may actually be teenagers even if they entered adult birthdays during registration. According to the company, the technology has already helped place millions of Instagram users in the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK into Teen Account protections automatically.

Now, Meta is expanding those safeguards into 27 countries across the European Union and Brazil. The company also confirmed that Facebook users in the US will begin receiving the same protections, with the UK and EU scheduled to follow in June.

Meta added that it aims to expand the technology globally on Instagram throughout the year.
   

Meta Pushes Parents And App Stores Into The Age Verification Debate

Alongside the AI rollout, Meta is introducing new parental guidance initiatives designed to encourage honest age disclosure online. Parents in the US will soon receive notifications on Facebook and Instagram with instructions on how to verify their teens’ ages and discuss online safety more effectively.

The company said these resources will also be available globally through its Family Center platform.

Meta further argued that app stores should ultimately take responsibility for age verification at the operating system level. According to the company, centralized verification would provide a more consistent and privacy-conscious solution than requiring individual apps to independently manage age assurance systems.

Meta said this approach is supported by 88% of US parents and would help ensure safer, age-appropriate experiences across the broader app ecosystem.