Highlights

• Instagram App Updates
• ID Verification
• Database

Brief Summary

When it comes to social media platforms and applications, Instagram is one of the most popular ones out there, because it is deemed as a platform for the youths that belong to the millennial generation.

India’s 80% of the population comprises of youth, which is why Instagram is so popular in the country, and continues to grow in numbers with each passing day, which is both a good and bad sign.

It is a good sign because it signifies the ever growing stature of the Meta-owned platform due to which it will continue to go places, while the bad sign is due to a huge number of fake accounts that have been created, some, if not all, of which are for the sole intent of malice or to bother other users.

Meta has made it clear that they are going to tackle fake accounts that are a nuisance to others, while the genuine accounts of real people have to be at least 14 years old, which means that you need to be minimum 14 to create your own Instagram account.

The company has started rolling out updates where users need to provide additional verifications like an identity document or video selfie so that the identity of the user can be authenticated.

The reason why Meta has made it their goal to confirm the age group of its users is because many minor children are seeing adult content on the site that is extremely offensive and vulgar that might corrupt their mind and mislead them on the wrong path.

Earlier, Instagram app could confirm the users’ age only through an identity card, while it also started three test methods to confirm the users’ age, one of which is Artificial Intelligence based system so that faces could be evaluated and their age determined accordingly.

There are many users that attempt to modify their age so as to create their account but with the new updates, a minor user has to go through the process of verification in order to update the age of the account to 18 or older.

Instagram has made it clear to skeptical users that the identity document chosen for verification will be kept in a secure database for 30 days following which it will be removed.

Yoti is a well-known age detection technology that Instagram uses for verifying video selfies where the demo that showcases it is quite reliable and will allow Instagram to determine the age bracket of the user.

While Yoti is a good platform to identify age, it isn’t suitable for facial recognition, which implies that you may ascertain that the person in the document or photograph matches the description given, but you can only get a rough idea as to what exactly his age would be.

It is extremely important to take the risk for verifying the age of the user because submitting personal information is a huge risk in this day and age but Instagram has made sure that user privacy will never be compromised.

Also Read: Instagram Adds Support For NFT Sales, Gifts On Reels; Expands Subscriptions To Eligible US Creators

Conclusion

There are going to be mixed opinions over the age verification feature but it is a crucial step to tackle fake and bot accounts that are creating a nuisance on the platform, which many users will realize as well.

Also Read: Instagram Announces Upgrades to Protect Users From Abuse, Inappropriate Content