MENLO PARK, California — Meta Platforms said on Monday 9 November 2026 that it will expand its artificial intelligence age-estimation technology around the world to move millions more teenagers on Instagram into Teen Account protections, even when the birth dates on their accounts say they are adults, as the company faces a wave of lawsuits alleging that its platforms harm young users. The announcement, reported by Reuters on Monday, closes one of the oldest loopholes in social media safety: the birth date typed at sign-up. A teenager who entered an adult birthday could slip past the stricter settings reserved for 13- to 17-year-olds. Under the expanded system, Meta's software will weigh the evidence of an account's real age and move suspect accounts into Teen Accounts. Illustration: A teenager holding a smartphone showing the Instagram app with a shield and checkmark, beneath a glowing AI scanning overlay. The image is an AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of a r...