Social media companies increase age assurance efforts amid U.S. regulatory shifts

Social media companies are increasing efforts to implement age assurance technologies to distinguish between adult and child users. This shift follows a landmark $18 billion settlement by Meta with 48 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, addressing claims that Instagram and Facebook were designed to hook young users and harm their mental health. The settlement includes specific commitments to refine age assurance methods, which may set new industry standards.

Tech companies are exploring various methods to verify age, including the use of government-issued IDs and artificial intelligence. While AI can estimate age, it cannot verify a specific birth date. These efforts face significant hurdles, particularly regarding privacy concerns for both children and adults who may be required to provide sensitive identification to access services.

In the United States, the regulatory focus is shifting from whether platforms should verify age to how these requirements should be implemented. Legislators and courts are currently debating acceptable technologies and liability. In California, Assembly Bill 1856 was passed to exempt open-source operating systems from the state’s Digital Age Assurance Act, aiming to prevent confusion regarding Linux distributions and SteamOS.