With artificial intelligence, Instagram intends to verify the age of users

The photo-sharing social network Instagram announced that it began testing a tool based on artificial intelligence, with the purpose of confirming the age of users in the United States.

Several users around the world have demanded that the platform, owned by the technological giant Meta, protect young people from adult content and invasions of their privacy.

In that sense, Meta announced the trial of new verification tools for anyone who tries to change their age from under 18 to over that age on the platform, including recording a selfie or asking their friends to verify their age.

“We are testing this to make sure teens and adults get the right experience for their age group,” Meta said.

Instagram will launch artificial intelligence to verify the age of users - Photo: DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Likewise, Meta indicated that the video selfies will be sent to the British firm Yoti, which has developed an artificial intelligence tool that can calculate the age of those under 20 years of age with a margin of 15 years.

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Similarly, Yoti’s own data suggests to Instagram that its tool is not as effective at verifying the age of women and girls, and people with dark skin. Both Yoti and Meta stated that the selfies will be deleted after verification.

It is worth mentioning that Instagram was involved last year by revelations from the whistleblower Frances Haugen, who indicated that the firm’s executives knew that the platform could harm the mental health of young people, especially adolescents. Since then, the social network has implemented several features aimed at protecting younger users.

Instagram lets you pin featured posts

With the passing of time, the Instagram app continues to add more features that help boost the personal account of different users. This time, the social network will allow you to set the content you want to highlight at the top of your profile.

The user will be able to post photos or videos that are part of this new tool, which was already being implemented by TikTok for some time. Several Instagram users are already taking advantage of this feature.

Also, using this new tool has a compilation of steps, but quite simple for the user.

• Open Instagram.
• Enter the Instagram profile from the application.
• Search and select the images or videos that you want to highlight, so that users who enter the profile see them.
• Open one and click on the three dots that appear in the upper right corner of the screen.
• When the menu is displayed, it should be where it says ‘Pin on your profile’.
• Repeat this process for the photos or videos that you want to highlight.

Similarly, once the posts have been pinned, they will be easily recognizable, as they will have a drawing of a pin in the upper right corner.

In addition, if you want to change any of them, you just have to open it and press the three points that appear in it again and then click on ‘Unset profile’.

This is how you can prevent strangers from sending direct messages

At some point, several users have faced direct messages from a fake account, which can be annoying, so it is advisable to directly block direct message requests from unknown users.

Steps

• Open Instagram and tap on your profile picture in the bottom right corner.
• Within the profile, touch the button with three horizontal lines in the upper right corner.
• Now, in the menu that appears, tap on ‘Settings’.
• Enter the ‘Privacy’ section.
• Tap on ‘Messages’.
• Next, enter the ‘Other people on Instagram’ section.
• Tap on the ‘Do not receive requests’ option.

On the other hand, you can also block follower requests by going to the Privacy option, then tapping on Messages, then clicking on Your Instagram followers and then tapping on Do not receive requests.

With information from AFP