Instagram will require users to share their birthday. This is part of Instagram's efforts to create security features for underage users.
In an official statement, Instagram said users would receive a pop-up notification when opening the app asking them to provide their date of birth. This notification will appear if the user has never entered a date of birth in their profile.
This notification will appear several times, and the user can ignore it by clicking the 'Not Now' option. But users can't ignore this notification forever because Instagram says users have to provide their birthday if they want to keep using their app.
This pop-up notification will be rolling out starting this week on the Instagram mobile app, and will continue to roll out over the next few weeks to reach more users.
Instagram also says users must share their birthday if they want to see posts hidden behind a warning screen. Instagram has been hiding sensitive content and graphics for a long time, but now they are asking users to share their birthdays if they want to see the content.
Of course, underage users can fake their birthday when creating an Instagram account. To prevent this, Instagram will deploy AI technology to identify if underage users are lying about their age.
For example, Instagram's technology will be able to infer a person's age based on comments left on 'Happy Birthday' posts, where the user's age may be stated implicitly.
This Facebook-owned application says if a user claims they are over a certain age, but according to the AI they are lying, Instagram will ask the user to verify their age using several methods, as quoted from The Verge, Tuesday (31/8/2021).
All of these provisions were implemented to help Instagram create a more friendly platform for younger users. In May, Instagram announced it would create a special app for children under 13 that would require users to provide their date of birth.
Instagram has also rolled out several features to protect underage users such as preventing unknown adults from sending DMs to users under the age of 16.