One of the great battles on the Internet has been focused for years on blocking content by age, not only for adult content but also for the little ones. And the vast majority Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and even WhatsApp have a minimum access requirement of 16 years.

However, as is known, currently most of these limitations can be easily overcome, only when creating an account requires the determination of any age higher than the actual one, without having any type of real method of identification. Something that ultimately exposes minors to the constant risk of being exposed to inaccurate information, sexism, self-harm sites, adult-focused material, and even more incidents with consequences.

Fortunately, some social networks, such as Instagram, continue to look for ways to ensure compliance with these rules. In addition to setting accounts as private to minors by default, Meta has announced this will add additional ways to verify the age in your app reduce the likelihood of inappropriate media exposure. To do this, new users must verify their age by uploading a photo of your identity card, shooting a selfie video or via the so-called Social Vouchingwhich allows you to ask already registered friends to verify their age.

How the company shared the following new features for the age verification process in the announcement:

“Understanding one’s age online is a complex challenge for the entire industry. We want to work with others in our industry and with governments to set clear standards for online age verification. Many people, such as teenagers, do not always have access to forms of identification that make age verification clear and simple. As an industry, we need to explore new ways to solve the dilemma of verifying the age of someone who does not have an ID.

We still believe that an effective way to solve this problem is for devices or app stores to provide people-age apps and allow teens to enter age-appropriate environments in all the apps they use. In the absence of industry standards or regulations on how to effectively verify age online, we have invested in a combination of technologies that are fairer, provide more options for age verification, and protect the privacy of people who use our technologies. »

In addition, Instagram also works with Yoti’s age verification certification programto help ensure people’s privacy. To this end, the company mentioned that Meta and Yoti delete the selfie video as soon as their age is confirmed and do not use it for any other reason. The user ID is also encrypted, securely stored and then deleted within 30 days.

Although these measures will so far only apply to users in the United States, the company has already stated this hopes to expand this service internationally in the futurewithout specifying any target date.