Zuckerberg's company, Meta, is rolling out new changes to the Instagram app. Until now, accounts older than 14 years could be profiled. With the new changes that have been imposed starting this Monday, users will be asked for additional verification through a Video Selfie or an identity document.
The aim of this is to combat fake accounts that circulate on the platform and regulate that real accounts are 14 or over.
Verification required if you change age account
From now on, if a minor wants to change their account age to 18 or older, they will have to go through the verification process. The verification, announced some time ago, becomes official from this Monday.
Instagram update
Tara Hopkins, director of public policy at Instagram, expressed the importance of knowing the age of profiles on the platform to ensure that the experience we have based on age is consistent with standards.
Verification image is stored securely for 30 days
As Instagram assures in a statement, if we choose to verify using an identity document that accredits us, the image that is taken will not be stored indefinitely. The first hand will be stored for 30 days in a secure database and after this period it will be deleted.
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In the case of Video Selfie verification, Instagram opts for an age recognition technology called Yoti. Although it is true that this technology may have a low failure rate, if we try the demonstration we can see its high reliability, making an estimate of the age group in which we find ourselves.
What is Yoti?
Yoti, is a technology that can recognize age, but it does not work as facial recognition to use. By this we mean that you will not know if the person as such is the one described in the document or photo, but you will know their age range.
A very important step for Instagram, according to Hopkins
For Hopkins, taking this leap and verification is a very important step for Instagram, ensuring that this technology will respect users' privacy, being the safest way to prove a person's age.
For our part, we can only ask ourselves if perhaps this is the beginning of ID verification of people on social media. In this case, we may be entering an internet that will no longer be as anonymous as we know it.
Methods such as verifying identity documents already exist in other countries, such as South Korea, for example, to avoid having multiple accounts or bot accounts.
Be that as it may, for some it will be an interesting change, while for others it could be a disaster. Only the future will tell us whether it is a good or bad idea to verify people on social media.
