On November 9th, US time, Meta announced that it would expand its initiative to apply "teen account" protection features to users Instagram's AI estimates to be teenagers, rolling out this effort globally, including Japan. Even if a user registers their birthdate as an adult, protection settings will be applied to accounts identified as belonging to users aged 13-17.
Teen accounts are a protective feature that restricts who can contact the user, what posts are displayed, and also helps manage screen time. Under previous settings, users who registered an age higher than their actual age could sometimes bypass these protections. The new system will combine AI estimation, ensuring protection features are applied even to users who couldn't be identified solely by their registered birthdate.
The age estimation mechanism was introduced in the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK in April 2025, and expanded to the EU and Brazil in May 2026. With this global expansion, Meta anticipates that protection features will be applied to millions more users on Instagram.
Similar technology is also being introduced on Facebook, and is planned for a global rollout on Threads by the end of the year.
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