Meta to expand teen safeguards to 27 EU countries, Facebook safeguards in June

Meta Platforms will expand technology safeguards for ​teen accounts to 27 European Union countries and ‌to Facebook in the United States, the U.S. tech giant said , as it seeks to fend off ​criticism regarding its efforts protecting teenagers online.

Tech companies ​are coming under increasing pressure worldwide to ⁠come up with age-checking measures over mounting concerns about ​online abuse, teen mental health and the spread of ​AI-generated child sexual images.

Meta last year rolled out technology to proactively find accounts they suspect to be teens, even if ​they list an adult birthday, and place them ​in Teen Account protections.

“This technology will be expanded to 27 countries ‌in ⁠the European Union. Meta is also expanding this technology to Facebook in the United States for the first time, with the UK and EU to ​follow in June,” ​the company ⁠said in a blogpost.

It also detailed its use of advanced artificial intelligence to ​detect underage accounts beyond simple admissions of ​age.

This ⁠includes using AI technology to analyze entire profiles for contextual clues to determine if an account likely ⁠belongs to ​someone underage and strengthening circumvention ​measures to prevent new accounts from users Meta suspects are underage.