BRUSSELS, May 5 - Meta Platforms said on Tuesday it will broaden the reach of technology designed to protect teenage users by expanding the system to 27 countries within the European Union and by introducing the same safeguards to Facebook in the United States.
The company framed the move as part of an effort to respond to criticism about how well it protects teenagers online. Tech firms globally have faced increasing demands to put robust age-verification and safety measures in place amid concerns about online abuse, youth mental health and the circulation of AI-generated child sexual images.
Meta noted that it first introduced technology last year that proactively identifies accounts it suspects belong to teenagers, even when the account lists an adult birthday, and then places those accounts under the platform's Teen Account protections.
In a blogpost, the company said: "This technology will be expanded to 27 countries in the European Union. Meta is also expanding this technology to Facebook in the United States for the first time, with the UK and EU to follow in June."
Beyond basic self-declared age data, Meta described the deployment of more advanced artificial intelligence tools to detect likely underage accounts. According to the company, the AI examines entire profiles for contextual clues that suggest an account may belong to someone underage. Meta also said it is strengthening measures intended to stop users it suspects are underage from creating new accounts to circumvent protections.
The announcement positions the technology expansion as a response to both regulatory and public scrutiny of how social platforms handle the safety of young people. Meta characterized the effort as an extension of earlier work to proactively identify and apply Teen Account settings to accounts that do not openly state an underage birthdate.
The company did not provide additional operational detail or new timelines beyond saying the Facebook rollout in the U.S. will occur immediately and that the UK and EU will follow in June.
Contextual note: The company emphasized use of AI-driven profile analysis and stepped-up circumvention defenses as core elements of this expansion, reflecting its stated approach to detecting underage accounts beyond straightforward age declarations.