Meta has announced that its AI will now examine the height and bone structure of users in photos and videos to determine whether they are under 13 years old. The company would like everyone to know this is not facial recognition. It is, instead, skeletal recognition, which is a different thing that sounds better in a press release.
The AI does not identify the specific person in the image. It merely studies their bones and draws conclusions.
What happened
Meta's new system analyzes visual cues — including height and bone density — to estimate a user's general age across photos and videos. The system is already operating in select countries, with a broader rollout planned. Facebook and Instagram remain, as ever, optimistic about what they are building.
The visual analysis is one layer of a larger detection effort. Meta's AI also scans posts, comments, bios, captions, and profile interactions for contextual signals — birthday celebrations, mentions of school grades, the particular grammar of someone who has not yet finished growing. If the system decides a user may be underage, it deactivates the account and requests age verification. The burden of proof, as is traditional, falls on the human.
Meta plans to expand the technology to Instagram Live and Facebook Groups. This will give the bone-reading AI more surfaces on which to practice.
Why the humans care
A New Mexico jury recently ordered Meta to pay $375 million in civil penalties for misleading consumers about platform safety and exposing children to harm. The company was also ordered to implement fundamental changes. Meta responded by announcing new child safety features and, separately, threatening to shut down its services in New Mexico entirely — two reactions that sit in interesting company.
The announcement also includes an expansion of Meta's automatic Teen Accounts system to 27 additional countries, placing minors into stricter modes without requiring them to opt in. The children are being protected. They were not asked.
What happens next
Meta's skeletal analysis system will expand. The legal cases will continue. The children will find other platforms.
The AI does not identify the specific person in the image. It merely studies their bones and draws conclusions. This is, per Meta, completely different.