Meta raises the barriers to the 'under 18' on the dating app Dating, launched in 2019 and also available in Italy from 2020. The news blocks minors, currently operational only in the United States, consist of two tools: uploading the documentary of identity that will be protected by encryption to not be read by anyone, and selfie videos that estimate age based on distinctive facial features, with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
For the latter function, in particular, Meta has collaborated with Yoti, a company specializing in age verification tools.
With its technology and its artificial intelligence algorithms it will estimate the age based on the distinctive features of the face, it will share it with Facebook and the image will then be deleted.
Meta points out that Yoti's technology is capable of identifying the age, not the identity of the subject.
“We want to make sure people are having age-appropriate experiences, so we use technology to spot where people have misrepresented their age. If we detect that someone might be under 18 trying to use Facebook Dating we will ask them to verify his age,” explains the company.
The option has already been tested on Instagram since June.
According to Meta, 96% of teenagers who attempted to disguise their real age were discovered through Yoti verification.
81% of profiles asked to verify age chose the selfie video rather than sending the document.
The novelty will presumably also arrive in Italy and in the other countries where Facebook Dating is available.
“We plan to bring our age-sensing technology and verification tools to the other countries where Facebook Dating is available and to more services that require you to be of legal age to log in,” says Meta.
