Meta’s landmark legal settlement includes detailed rules about age assurance.

The company must improve how it knows which users are children.

Other companies, including Google, TikTok, and Roblox, are also making their child safety measures stronger.

The $18 billion settlement ends claims from state attorneys general.

They said Meta designed Instagram and Facebook to catch young people’s attention and hurt their mental health.

The agreement covers 48 states plus the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.

Meta accepts government-issued IDs to check ages.

It promises to delete them within 30 days.

Many people do not like giving a big tech company access to their driver’s license or passport.

So companies are using artificial intelligence to guess ages.

Google uses AI on YouTube based on watch histories.

Meta does the same on Instagram.

Meta’s AI looks at visual signs like height or bone structure.

It also looks at posts, likes, and login times.

Under the settlement, Meta agreed to make its age-checking technology stronger with outside audits.

It also set goals for false positive rates, where minors are seen as over 18.

Identity verification companies like Yoti and Persona use video selfies to guess ages.

Roblox requires a video selfie for players who want to chat with others.

Some experts warn about the reliability of facial age guessing, especially for women or certain racial groups.

Some companies say that app stores like Apple and Google should handle age verification.

Google says that idea does not cover desktop computers and shared devices.

Critics of age verification worry about a less private and less free internet.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns that every system asks for sensitive personal information that can be leaked or misused.