Instagram Turns on Age Verification, Blocks Sensitive Content

Earlier, Instagram used some measures to prevent young people from seeing sensitive content. The age verification appeared while watching the posts that can contain sensitive photos or videos. From now on, Instagram will make it mandatory for all users. A window with age confirmation will appear when users open an application. You can dismiss it, but after some time, you will have to give this information to continue using Instagram.

If you have added the birthday information earlier, the service won’t ask you about this anymore. But if you refuse to do this, a request will appear again and again. Instagram will also ask you to verify your age if you’re opening a post with a warning screen. Now you can’t just click on the ’See Video’ or ’See Image’ button as it used to be earlier. All these new features are intended to hide the particular content from the minors.

Instagram is going to use artificial intelligence to identify which accounts have indicated the wrong age. This function will analyze the user’s posts. For example, it will look for 'Happy Birthday’ posts that may include age information. If the system sees that the user has given the wrong data, it will send a message with the request to change it. A lot of people may ignore the importance of giving the right birth date. However, this feature is intended to prevent such cases. It is in development now, so there is no information on when it will be added to the service.

Besides the age verification, Instagram also made the accounts that belong to people under 16 private. Some other features include preventing adults from sending messages to minors who don’t follow their accounts. Instagram strives to make a safe environment for all age groups. The service wants to become a pleasant experience for everyone no matter how old they are.