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Photo-sharing social network Instagram has partnered with British digital identity startup Yoti to roll out facial recognition technology in the UK to verify whether a user is young or old.
Starting Monday, Instagram users who adjust their birthday to 18 or older will be given the option to upload a personal video instead of providing a copy of their ID. Yoti’s software uses artificial intelligence to estimate a person’s age.
Meta’s Instagram says that this video will only be shared with Yoti, without identifying or identifying individuals and will be deleted by both companies after determining the age.
Instagram first teamed up with Yoti in June to test its software with US users. The social media platform added Yoti verification in India and Brazil last month.
“We want everyone to experience Instagram in a way that’s appropriate for their age, which means we need to know how old they are – and this is a challenge across our industry,” said Tara Hopkins, director of public policy for Instagram.
This is the latest example of companies using digital technology for the rough issue of online identity verification. Privacy campaigners have said digital IDs are unnecessary and risk alienating those who don’t use the service.
Yoti’s technology is approved by the UK Cinema Association for those aged 13 and over to prove their age when watching films.
Founded in 2014, London-based Yoti has raised $20.1m (£17.6m) in funding and a $99m (£86.5m) valuation according to Dealroom.
Meta is said to be looking at other ways to use Yoti’s technology.
Julie Dawson, chief policy and legal officer, Yoti, said: “Our facial age test is a privacy protection solution. We designed it to give everyone a safe way to test their ages without revealing their names or ID documents.
“Technology can allow minors to access age-appropriate content while protecting users’ privacy.”
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