Instagram will begin asking users to share their birthday information with the service as they open the application. This applies only to those users who haven’t entered their birthdays on Instagram. It is mandatory to continue using the application. It’s an attempt from Instagram to enable the platform safer and protective for under-aged users.
Instagram stated that if the users denied providing birthday info, they wouldn’t continue using Instagram. This information is necessary for new features that the company is developing to protect young people.
According to Instagram, the company will use the information to ensure the right experience for the right age group. The company even stated that the users under age 16 have to enable private accounts when they join the platform for security issues.
Instagram will use the info provided by the users to provide accurate content and ads to deliver a better experience. Furthermore, Instagram stated that users would get several pop-up notifications if they do not enter their birthday.
When users are viewing sensitive content on Instagram, users will get a similar add birthday notification. However, Instagram shows a sensitive-content-warning for some posts which it did not ask users to add their birthdays before, but now users have to add the info to continue browsing Instagram.
If the users still deny sharing the birthday info, Instagram will permanently prevent their id from adding info by disabling and blocking the profile. Instagram also stated that it is aware that people might give fake dates for their birthdays on the platform.
The company announced that it would feature a new AI-based system to determine users’ age by analyzing Happy Birthday posts on their profiles.
The company stated the work is still in progress and is in development. With the new feature, Instagram is now one of the apps to have rolled out added protections for under-aged users. Currently, the new feature is rolling out for all the users globally.