Tech firms intensify efforts to identify under-age users amid new regulations

In response to a settlement covering 48 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, Meta must overhaul its age-assurance mechanisms within a year, using both internal AI tools and third-party solutions while undergoing external audits. The company’s AI evaluates contextual signals such as school-time activity, birthday posts, and visual cues like height to flag likely minors, but it cannot verify official birth dates.

Similar AI-driven age-estimation systems are being rolled out by Google on YouTube and by TikTok, while Roblox requires optional video selfies for age checks, a method its chief safety officer says is accurate within one or two years for ages five to twenty-five. Identity-verification firms Yoti and Persona also provide facial-scan services to platforms. Critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argue that any system demanding personal identifiers threatens privacy and could lead to broader internet age-gating. The $18 billion settlement resolves accusations that Meta’s platforms were deliberately engineered to addict young users, highlighting growing scrutiny of child-safety practices across the tech industry.