Instagram Expands Age Verification Tools to More Regions
Instagram is expanding its age verification program to several more regions, as it looks to improve its processes of clarifying and confirming user ages, and limiting their exposure in the app.
As per Meta’s Andy Stone:
“Starting today, we’re beginning to expand our Instagram age verification test to Mexico, Canada, South Korea, Australia, Japan, and more countries in Europe. This builds on an expansion to India and Brazil we announced in October, with more countries coming in the next few months.”
Initially launched in the US last June, Instagram’s age verification process requires users to verify their stated age by using one of three options:
- Upload their government ID
- Record a video selfie
- Ask mutual friends to verify their age.
Instagram’s video selfie process uses video analysis from to estimate a person’s age in the clip.
Meta says that the process has proven to be highly effective, with 96% of teens who’ve attempted to edit their birthdays from under 18 to 18+ stopped from doing so. That enhanced level of verification could be a big step in ensuring that young users are not accessing potentially harmful elements of the app, and are not being targeted by advertisers with inappropriate promotions.
