Instagram now requires user birthday

In order to create a safer and private space for young people, Instagram will be requiring users to input their birthday.

According to Instagram, this information will allow them to create new safety features for young people, and help ensure that it is the right experience for the appropriate age group. For example, Instagram can apply recent changes they made that restrict advertiser targeting options for audiences under the age of 18 to more people—showing that age group more relevant and appropriate ads.

Instagram will be introducing two new changes, for people who haven’t already shared their birthday. First, Instagram will ask the user to state their birthday, and if ignored, the user will be pinged with a handful of notifications; and at a certain point would need to share their birthday in order to continue using Instagram.

Second, if users see warning screens placed on posts, they will be asked to give their birthday before seeing the post. Now, Instagram mentioned that they recognized that some people may give the wrong birthday. To counter this, they will be using artificial intelligence to estimate how old people are based on things like “Happy Birthday” posts.

In the future, if someone indicates that they are above a certain age, and Instagram’s AI technology tells otherwise, they will show them a menu of options to verify the user’s age.

Instagram notes that this process is still in its early stages, for more information, click here.

source: Instagram