Meta has started using artificial intelligence to find teenage users on Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, even when they enter a fake date of birth. The company announced this update on June 26, as Nigeria considers stricter rules for children online, The new AI system looks at things teens post, not just the birthday they type in. It checks for clues like birthday celebrations, mentions of school grades, captions, comments and bios to guess if an account belongs to a teenager. Meta is also adding a new visual analysis tool. This tool looks at photos and videos to estimate a person’s age based on general features like height or bone structure. Meta says this is different from facial recognition because it does not try to identify who the person is, only how old they might be. This visual check will soon work on Instagram Reels, Instagram Live and Facebook Groups too.
Alongside the AI detection, Meta is rolling out new 13+ content settings across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger Teen Accounts. These settings are based on movie age ratings. The goal is that teens should not see anything online that they would not be allowed to watch in an age-rated movie. On Facebook, this means teens will see less inappropriate content on their Feed and Reels. They will also have limited contact with Pages, Groups and Profiles that mostly share unsuitable content. Messenger will block teens from getting links to that kind of content or chatting with accounts that share it often. Natasha Jog, Meta’s Director of Public Policy, said keeping teens safe is one of the company’s top priorities, and that the new tools are meant to make online spaces age-appropriate by default.
Meta is expanding its Family Center, where parents can manage their teen’s activity across Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Meta Horizon in one place. Soon, parents will also see a summary of how much time their teen spends across all of Meta’s apps.
A new feature will alert parents if their teen searches for terms related to suicide or self-harm multiple times in a short period. This feature is starting in the European Union, Brazil and India first, before reaching other countries including Nigeria. Meta says 9 out of 10 teens placed in the default Teen Account protections chose to keep them instead of turning them off. The company also says parents have reviewed more than 15 million pieces of content to help train its safety systems.
This update comes at an important time for Nigeria. In June, the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy shared results from a nationwide survey on child online safety. The survey found that 83.4% of Nigerians support stricter rules for children using social media, while 64.5% want the minimum age raised to 16 or 17, higher than the global standard of 13. Nigerian parents have raised concerns about cyberbullying, harmful content, addictive apps and weak age checks. Meta’s new AI tools may be one way tech companies respond to this growing pressure, even before Nigeria passes any new law, For now, Nigerian parents with teens on Instagram or Facebook should check the Family Center to see what controls are already available to them.
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Meta’s move shows that AI is becoming the new gatekeeper for child safety online. But software alone cannot replace a parent paying attention. As Nigeria debates how old is old enough for social media, families may need to start having these conversations at home too, while the policy catches up.
