Instagram brings AI age-detection to Australia, says Apple and Google must do more

Instagram is expanding its AI-driven teen safety settings to Australia as part of a global rollout designed to create safer, age-appropriate experiences on the platform.

From today, the Meta-owned app will begin placing accounts it suspects belong to under-18s - even if they have listed an adult birthday - into its Teen Account settings. These include restrictions on who can contact teens, the content they see, and new rules preventing them from going Live or turning off DM filters that hide unwanted images.

SEE MORE: Government warns industry to prepare for teen social media ban

The move follows an April trial in the US, where Meta said more than 9 in 10 active teen accounts remained in protective settings designed to reduce exposure to harmful or unwanted content. The program is also expanding to the UK and Canada.

As part of the rollout, parents in Australia will receive in-app prompts encouraging them to confirm their teens’ ages and have conversations about online safety, but Mia Garlick, regional policy director at Meta, is calling on Google and Apple to verify age at the point of download. 

“Understanding age online is a complex, industry-wide challenge, especially if people misrepresent how old they are," she said.

“That said, we think there’s a better way to understand a teen’s age. We’d like to see App Stores, such as the Apple App Store or Google Play, give parents the ability to verify their teens’ age directly at the point of download, which could then send a signal to apps like Instagram regarding a person’s age range.”

Instagram launched Teen Accounts last year to give parents more oversight, with features limiting who can contact teens, controlling the content they see, and introducing time-based usage limits. The protections have since been extended to Facebook and Messenger, with Meta reporting more than 54 million active Teen Accounts globally.

The changes come as the federal government considers proposals for a nationwide ban on under-16s accessing social media, putting pressure on platforms to demonstrate robust safety systems before regulation is imposed.

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