Meta is expanding the AI age-estimation technology it uses on Instagram to all markets, a move the company announced will place millions more teens into Teen Account protections even if they signed up with an adult birthday.

Teen Accounts, available on Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, automatically limit who can contact teens, the content they see, and their time on the apps. Meta said its technology looks for people it suspects are teens and moves them into those protections. The company said it is encouraged by results since first introducing the technology, and that the global rollout builds on that.

Meta said it is continuing to roll the technology out on Facebook and will begin launching similar technology globally on Threads later this year.

Parent Notifications and Apple’s Age Signal

Meta said parents in the U.S. will begin seeing an in-feed video on Instagram this month explaining how the company places teens in age-appropriate protections. The video will link to an article by Larry Magid, internet safety advocate and President and CEO of ConnectSafely, about Meta’s approach to age assurance. A notification will also explain how parents can help make sure their teen’s age is accurate. Meta said the article is available to parents worldwide.

In Australia, Meta has begun using Apple’s age-range signal as an additional method to understand age. Under that process, a parent who sets up a smartphone for a teen can have the app store confirm the user’s age range. Apple then passes that range to developers, including Meta, each time the teen downloads an app.

Meta said it uses the signal voluntarily but argued that teens will receive inconsistent protections across apps as long as collecting and sharing the signal is optional for app stores and using it is optional for developers. The company said its own age-estimation work can serve as a backstop to catch mistakes and feed corrections back to the app store.

Meta also called on TikTok and YouTube to adopt the same practices.

Legal Backdrop

Meta said the expansion builds on commitments under its recent agreement with 52 bipartisan attorneys general to strengthen how it identifies teens and children under 13. The tech company settled claims from state attorneys general over teen mental health in August. It agreed to daily usage limits and nighttime blocks for teen users, enhanced age assurance measures, and additional parental tools, according to that reporting.

About $5.3 billion of that settlement is contingent on YouTube and TikTok adopting comparable safeguards and matching Meta’s contribution. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said in September that YouTube will not join, citing differences between the platform and Meta’s apps.

Meta also faces individual litigation. Jury selection began in October in a Los Angeles Superior Court trial in which two plaintiffs accuse Meta and Snap of designing addictive platforms.

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