Meta is bringing Instagram’s age verification tool to Facebook Dating: What is it, how to verify and more – Times of India

In June this year, Meta announced that it began testing new options for people to verify their age on Instagram. The testing was started to help the company provide age-appropriate experiences to users. The social media giant has now said that the same age-verification process is being expanded to Facebook Dating service in the US.
What is Facebook Dating?
Facebook Dating is a service that allows its users to meet and start new conversations with people who share common interests. It works like other dating apps like Tinder and Bumble where users create a dating profile. These users can send likes and messages to people they are interested in. Once someone likes them back, they are a match and can start chatting.
Facebook Dating is not available in India. People living in various countries in Europe, South America, North America and some South Asian countries have access to the service. You have to be 18 years or older to be eligible to use dating services.

Why is age verification necessary?
One of the main reasons why age-verification tools are necessary is to make sure that only adults use Facebook Dating. Further, it will also prevent minors from accessing the service. It also aims to mitigate impersonation so that a 45-year-old person is not pretending to be a 22-year-old.
“We want to make sure people are placed in experiences that are appropriate for their ages, so we use technology to understand where people have misrepresented how old they are. That’s why we’ve invested in age detection technology to find potential discrepancies in the ages people provide us and the age we think they may be based on our technology. If we detect someone may be under the age of 18 and trying to use Facebook Dating, we will prompt them to verify their age,” Meta said in a blog post.

How Meta verifies age?
Meta uses AI face-scanning tools to verify the age of Instagram users. Now, the company says it will test the tool on Facebook Dating users. Facebook Dating users will have two options to choose from: Video Selfie and ID Upload.
Video Selfie: If a person chooses this option, they will be guided through the verification process. Once users share their video selfies, Meta will further share a still image from the video with Yoti, a UK-based company that specialises in privacy-preserving ways to verify age.
Yoti’s technology estimates the users’ age based on their facial features and shares that estimate with Meta. Meta says that once the data is shared with the company, the image is deleted immediately. It also claims that the technology cannot recognise users’ identity — “just your age.”
ID Upload: The second option is by uploading an ID. “After you upload a copy of your ID, it’ll be encrypted and stored securely, and won’t be visible on your Facebook profile or to other people on the app. Once your age has been verified, you can manage how long your ID is saved for,” Meta notes in the blog.

Meta says since its age verification tests began on Instagram in June, approximately four times as many people are more likely to complete our age verification requirements. “We also were able to stop 96% of the teens who attempted to edit their birthdays from under 18 to 18 or over on Instagram from doing so,” Meta claimed.
Age verification started in the US in June for Instagram users. The testing was expanded to other markets like India and Brazil in October. Meta says it also plans to expand testing to the UK and EU before the end of the year.