Instagram starts with video as a way of age verification

Instagram kicks off in the US with a way to verify the age of users by creating a video. An algorithm then tries to estimate the age. Also, the user can choose that the software asks contacts to verify the age.

There are three ways to verify an age in the US, says Instagram† In addition to uploading an ID such as a driver’s license or passport, this can be done by having contacts ask to verify the age and by uploading a video. The latter is in collaboration with the Yoti company. That has trained its algorithm on a dataset of photos from around the world, in which all data except age has been anonymized.

The age verification occurs when users change their age to above 18 or below 18, parent company Meta says. It is currently only happening in the United States. Instagram allows users as young as 13 years old, but does have restrictions for users between the ages of 13 and 17. Instagram says it will remove the video immediately after the age verification. A copy of the ID will remain encrypted, the company says.