Meta’s landmark legal settlement includes detailed requirements on age assurance.

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

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

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

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

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

Meta accepts government-issued IDs to check ages and promises to delete them within 30 days.

Many people are uncomfortable giving a big tech company access to their driver’s license or passport.

So companies are using artificial intelligence to estimate ages.

Google uses AI on YouTube based on watch histories, and Meta does the same on Instagram.

Meta’s AI looks at visual cues like height or bone structure, plus posts, likes, and login times.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Google says that proposal fails to 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 demands sensitive personal information that can be leaked or misused.