Meta Expands Instagram's Age Verification Feature to More Countries

Instagram age verification trial extended (photo: Meta)

JAKARTA - On Thursday, March 2 yesterday, Meta has expanded the availability of age verification for Instagram to more countries, such as Europe, Mexico, Canada, South Korea, Australia and Japan.

"Starting today, we're starting to expand our age verification testing on Instagram to more countries in Europe, Mexico, Canada, South Korea, Australia and Japan," wrote Meta in its latest announcement.

This feature is rolling out first to UK and EU users. With age verification, anyone trying to edit their date of birth from under 18 to over 18 must first go through a verification process.

Users have several options to verify your age, either by using identification (KTP) or by recording a video of yourself which will then be analyzed by age estimation technology.

In collaboration with UK digital identity provider, Yoti, to verify age, after users record their selfie, it is then shared with Yoti to analyze their facial features and then the estimated age of the user will be sent to Instagram.

At its initial rollout, Instagram said the update would help users ensure an age-appropriate experience.

While it hasn't been released globally to all users yet, Meta plans to make Instagram's age verification tool available in more countries globally in the coming months.