By Ken Muthomi - Reporter
Kenya, 5 May 2026 - Meta is rolling out advanced AI-backed visual and text analyses on all its platforms to flush out underage accounts.
The new technology will allow AI to scan through the individual's photos and videos, and check for visual cues such as height or bone structure, to estimate someone’s general age. This does not, however, identify the specific person in the image.
The company will also leverage AI to analyze entire profiles of individuals across various formats, including posts, comments, bios, and captions, to determine whether the account is owned by an underage.
This technique will be expanded to apps like Instagram Reels, Instagram Live, and Facebook Groups, according to the tech giant.
The insight gathered by the analysis will then be combined with text and interaction analysis, which will help in identifying the number of underage accounts that can be removed.
To supplement this, the company will equip its human review teams with AI models to analyse community reports of underage accounts through its apps and Help Centres with more accuracy and speed.
“If we determine an account may be underage, it will be deactivated, and the account holder will need to provide proof of age through our age verification process to prevent their account from being deleted,” Meta said.
“While many of these AI improvements are available worldwide, certain advanced features — like visual analysis — are currently available in select countries as we work toward a broader rollout,” it added.
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The company has also revealed that it has expanded access to Teen Accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger to 27 countries in the European Union and Brazil to ensure that more teenagers are enrolled in the built-in protections.
The company will also begin sending notifications to parents in the United States on Facebook and Instagram with information about how to check and confirm their teens’ ages on its apps. Parents in other countries can access these tools and resources through Meta's family centre platform.
“If we suspect someone is misrepresenting their age to avoid our protections, for example, if they attempt to change their birthday from under 18 to over 18, we require them to verify their age using an ID or Yoti’s facial age estimation tools to complete the change,” the company stated.
In the recent past, the tech giant Meta has been keen to put in place safeguards to ensure that underage users are not exposed to inappropriate content across its social media platforms, which are among the most widely used globally.
Less than two weeks ago, Meta announced a new parental supervision feature on its platforms that will enable parents to monitor how their teens interact with its AI.
Parents using supervision on Facebook, Messenger, or Instagram will now see a new insights tab, both in-app and on the web, where they can see the topics their teen has been asking Meta AI about in that specific app over the past seven days.