Meta expanding Instagram's age verification test to 6 more countries

Meta has announced that it is expanding its "age verification test" on Instagram to six more countries, including Europe and Canada.

"Starting today, we're beginning to expand our age verification test on Instagram to more countries in Europe, Mexico, Canada, South Korea, Australia and Japan," the company said in an updated blogpost on Thursday.

It further mentioned that it is planning to make the age verification tools available in more countries globally within the next few months.

In June last year, the company had initially started testing new options for Instagram users to verify their age, starting with people based in the US.

Later, in October, Meta expanded this test to India and Brazil.

If someone attempts to edit their date of birth on the platform from under the age of 18 to 18 or over, they have to verify their age using one of three options -- upload their ID, record a video selfie or ask mutual friends to verify their age.

According to the company, this will make sure "that teens and adults are in the right experience for their age group."

"In addition to testing the new menu of options to verify people's ages, we also use artificial intelligence (AI) to understand if someone is a teen or an adult," it added.