Instagram to start verifying users’ age with selfie videos
Instagram is to start verifying the ages of users aged 18 or older in India and Brazil via the upload of an ID or video selfie in a programme the company said will come to the UK and EU by the end of the year.
Users verifying via video will have their footage analysed by UK-based startup Yoti, which provides AI-powered age estimation technology for various tech companies.
The move follows a similar programme in the US earlier this year. Verifying users’ age will allow Instagram to prevent things like adults messaging teens or minors seeing restricted ad content.
"We’re testing new options for people to verify their age on Instagram, allowing us to provide age-appropriate experiences,” the company wrote in a blog post announcing the rollout of the verification program.
Instagram is also removing social vouching as a tool to verify users’ age, by which people asked three mutual followers to confirm their age.
Users need to be at least 13 years old to sign up for Instagram, and older in some countries. But recent research from UK media regulator Ofcom found that a third of children aged eight to 17 lie about their age on social media by providing false birthdays.
Following years of accusations that it had not done enough to protect minors on the platform, such as in the Molly Russell case, Instagram now makes accounts of users under 16 private by default, blocks direct messages from unknown adults and prevents advertisers from targeting teens based on their interests and activities.
The UK is also looking to pass the Online Safety Bill, a piece of legislation which, among other things, will require platforms like Instagram to protect young people using their services from legal but harmful material, such as content on self-harm or eating disorders.
