'This is not facial recognition' Meta wants to scan kids' height and bone structure to verify their age

Date:
Thu, 07 May 2026 20:30:00 +0000

Description:
Meta is enhancing its technology for detecting users under 13 who shouldn't
be on Facebook or Instagram.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter New AI tools for verifying ages are being rolled out by Meta Instagram and Facebook is for users aged 13+ A "visual analysis" will weigh up height and bone structure Age verification
for sites, apps, and devices is fast becoming the norm as regulators look to protect children from potentially harmful content including content on
social media . Now Meta has announced new "age assurance measures" for teen users and predictably, they are powered by AI.

Specifically, the system will use contextual clues associated with a profile (such as mentions of birthdays or school grades) together with a "visual analysis" to help figure out how old a user is. "We want to be clear: this is not facial recognition," says Meta . "Our AI looks at general themes and visual cues, for example height or bone structure, to estimate someone's general age; it does not identify the specific person in the image." You may like Apple adds iPhone age verification in the UK, as Meta and Google get fined Sam Altman-backed firm warns AI will soon outgrow facial recognition Apples iOS-level age verification is a mess, but it could be what we need Latest Videos From

Users suspected of being too young for Facebook and Instagram (so under 13) will have their accounts deactivated. They'll then need to provide some form of proof of age through a specific age verification process to get their account back. 'Safe, positive experiences online' Teen protections for Instagram and Facebook are heading to more regions (Image credit: Meta) Other Facebook and Instagram users can report accounts that they think are being used by kids under the age of 13, and Meta says it hopes to "significantly increase the number of underage accounts we identify and remove" through
these methods.

"We want young people to have safe, positive experiences online," says Meta (though some would disagree ). "For over a decade, we've built tools, features, and resources to help teens have safe, age-appropriate experiences on our apps."

Similar AI techniques are already being used to spot teenagers on Meta's platforms, and shepherd them into teen-appropriate spaces on these platforms. This tech is now expanding into more regions (including Facebook in the US
and the UK). Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me
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Meta's announcement ends with a familiar call that we've heard before from
the developers of apps and websites: to force age verification at the device level, so it's a problem for Apple , Google , and Microsoft rather than Meta. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. The best laptops for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/social-media/this-is-not-facial-recognitio n-meta-wants-to-scan-kids-height-and-bone-structure-to-verify-their-age


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