Meta’s big legal settlement has clear rules about age checks.

The company must get better at knowing which users are children.

Other companies are also making their child safety stronger.

These include Google, TikTok, and Roblox.

The settlement is for $18 billion.

It ends claims from state attorneys general.

They said Meta made Instagram and Facebook to catch young people’s attention.

They said this hurt their mental health.

The agreement covers 48 states.

It also covers the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.

Meta accepts government IDs to check ages.

It promises to delete them within 30 days.

Many people do not like giving a big tech company 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 things 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.

It will use outside audits.

It also set goals for false positive rates.

These are times when minors are seen as over 18.

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

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

Some experts warn that facial age guessing is not always right.

This is especially true for women or some racial groups.

Some companies say app stores like Apple and Google should do age checks.

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

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

The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns that every system asks for sensitive personal information.

That information can be leaked or misused.