Instagram has announced the expansion of its age verification testing programme to India and Brazil in light of growing concern over safety regarding authentic profiles.
First implemented in the US earlier this year in June, the test requires users to prove their age by uploading a photo, ID or filming a video selfie in order to change their age from under 18 to older.
To implement this new initiative, Instagram has partnered with Yoti, a company that offers privacy-preserving ways to verify age. “Yoti is verified by the Age Check Certification Scheme and is the leading age verification provider for several industries around the world including social media, gaming and age restricted e-commerce,” said the company in a blog post.
According to Statista, India sports about 230.25 million monthly active users on Instagram. With increasing smartphone and data usage, regulation of such a huge user base has has drawn concern. Instagram’s trial will soon be expanded to the UK and EU markets as well before the end of the year.
Once a user has completed instructions to verify their age, the information moves from Instagram to Yoti for verification through layers of AI. “The information provided in each age verification option is used to confirm your age and won’t be visible on your profile, to friends or other people on Instagram. If you choose to upload a video selfie to verify your age, Meta and Yoti delete it once your age is confirmed. Your video is not used for anything else other than to verify your age. If you choose to upload an ID, after you send us a copy of your ID, it’ll be encrypted and stored securely,” said the company.
