Instagram Adds New Age Verification Features

Instagram has released their new age verification feature to help identify children and teens on the app.

Posted 4 years ago

Written by

Mackenzie Taylor

Posted 4 years ago

Last week, the man, the myth, the legend, Adam Mosseri announced some new measures Instagram will be taking to make sure that the youths on the app are having their age verified so they are better protected.

How will this work? Well, Instagram explains:

“Starting today, we’re testing new options for people on Instagram to verify their age, starting with people based in the US. If someone attempts to edit their date of birth on Instagram from under the age of 18 to 18 or over, we’ll require them to verify their age using one of three options: upload their ID, record a video selfie or ask mutual friends to verify their age.”

It seems this is another step toward Instagram working hard on protecting the mental health of teens on the app, after being called out as being a massive detriment to mental health. Instagram has already been working on other ways to help, like rolling out its latest-and-greatest nudge feature to help nudge teens away from content that they could be scrolling too much of.

The new age verification is in partnership with Yoti, a company that uses AI to accurately identify someone’s age based on their selfie.

Don’t want to submit your photo for verification? Instagram will also allow you to do something called “social vouching.” It’s a feature that will allow you to ask mutual followers to confirm how old you are.

The person vouching must:

Be at least 18 years old
Must not be vouching for anyone else at that time
Will need to meet other safeguards Instagram has in place

The three people you select to touch for you will receive a request and will have to respond within three days of receiving the request.

The last way you can confirm your identity is by uploading your ID. Once Instagram has confirmed your age, your ID will be stored securely for up to 30 days and then deleted.

Now the real question here is: Will this actually help and stop younger kids from getting on the app? Or will they find a loophole? What do you think of the new age verification process? Let us know over on Instagram!

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