Instagram Expands AI Age Verification to India and Brazil Ahead of Global Rollout
Instagram is bringing its artificial intelligence age verification system to India and Brazil, impacting roughly 400 million users. The expansion drops the flawed social vouching method in favor of video selfies and ID uploads to better protect teens.
Instagram expands its artificial intelligence age verification program to India and Brazil, bringing the technology to approximately 400 million monthly active users. The Meta-owned platform requires users claiming to be 18 or older to prove their age using either accepted identification documents or AI-powered video selfies. This expansion follows initial testing in the U.S. earlier this year as the company faces intense scrutiny from safety advocates over underage usage.
The video selfie option works in partnership with Yoti, a U.K.-based identity startup that uses specially trained AI to estimate a user's age. This alternative provides a crucial pathway for individuals who lack a valid government ID accepted by the social network. Instagram and Yoti both confirm that they immediately delete the video data after completing the verification process to protect user privacy.
As part of this update, Instagram completely removes the Social Vouching feature that previously allowed mutual followers to vouch for a user's age. The company drops this method because users easily game the system by having adult friends lie for them. Instagram plans to launch this improved verification system in the U.K. and EU before the end of the year to better restrict adult content from teenage audiences.