Meta’s AI scans photos for bone structure to catch underage users on Instagram and Facebook
Meta is using AI visual analysis to scan photos and videos for physical indicators like height and bone structure to detect and remove users under 13 from Instagram and Facebook.
JaneWalter
Meta
Meta has a new way of catching kids who lie about their age online, and it goes well beyond checking what they type.
The company announced it is now using AI visual analysis to scan photos and videos on Instagram and Facebook for physical indicators of age, including height and bone structure. Meta’s goal is to find and remove accounts belonging to users under 13 who may have signed up with a false birthday.
How does the visual analysis actually work?
Meta has been careful to clarify that this is not facial recognition. The AI doesn’t identify who someone is. Instead, it scans for general visual cues that suggest someone is young, like their physical proportions, to estimate a broad age range.
This visual scan works alongside existing text-based detection, which looks for contextual clues like birthday mentions, references to school grades, and information in bios, posts, captions, and comments. Meta also plans to expand this text analysis to Instagram Reels, Instagram Live, and Facebook Groups.
Meta
If an account is flagged as potentially underage, it gets deactivated. The user then needs to verify their age to get it back, or the account gets permanently deleted. The visual analysis is currently live in select countries, with a broader rollout planned.
What else is Meta doing for teen safety?
Meta
Meta is also expanding its Teen Accounts system, which automatically places users it suspects are between 13 and 15 into a stricter account experience. That means private accounts by default, DMs limited to people they already know, and hidden harmful comments.
This expansion now covers Instagram in Brazil and 27 EU countries, following earlier content restrictions modeled on film ratings. Facebook in the US is getting it for the first time too, with the UK and EU following in June. Meta has also given parents visibility into their kids’ AI chats as part of the same broader push.
The moves come as Meta faces mounting legal and regulatory pressure over child safety, including a $375 million penalty in New Mexico and a European Commission investigation into whether its platforms are doing enough to keep children off them.
Manisha Priyadarshini is a tech and entertainment writer with over nine years of editorial experience.
Schools are using VR headsets to relieve student stress and fix attention issues
Schools have found a surprisingly fun fix for student anxiety, and it only takes seven minutes.
Secondary schools in the London borough of Sutton are using VR headsets to help students manage exam stress, ADHD, and difficult home lives. The headsets are made by tech firm Phase Space, and the schools are running the pilot alongside the local NHS mental health trust.
As reported by the Guardian, the seven-minute VR program gives students a quick mental reset, either during a scheduled slot or when they need to step away from class because anxiety has taken over.
Next-gen DDR6 memory with insane speeds has entered development, but there’s a long wait
Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are already working on your next PC's memory upgrade.
The commercial adoption of DDR5 started in 2021 as it slowly became the new standard, and now the industry is already working on what comes next. According to TheElec, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron have quietly kicked off early development of DDR6, the next generation of memory protocol.
The three companies have shared their designs with substrate manufacturers, who are now building initial prototypes and running verification tests.
Asus Zenbook A16 Review: A suave MacBook killer from the Windows tent?
A feather-light and stylish 16-inch powerhouse with dependable battery life. What else you need?
