Instagram has a new idea for how to determine kids’ ages online — direct the children to videotape themselves, upload the content, and then the company will deploy facial scanning technology.
The Meta-owned social platform is partnering with tech company Yoti to test how the scanning tech can be used to verify children.
“After you take a video selfie, we share the image with Yoti, and nothing else,” Instagram said on its blog. “Yoti’s technology estimates your age based on your facial features and shares that estimate with us. Meta and Yoti then delete the image.”
Instagram said it wants to verify children’s ages to prevent unwanted contact from adult strangers and to limit some advertisers’ ability to reach the kids.