Instagram will be available to users if they have a passport
The Instagram social network has activated the previously announced plan to verify the age of users. Users will need to take a photo of their passport or take a video selfie. The new policy aims to combat teenagers who pretend to be older. It will apply to accounts that attempt to change their current age to 18 or older.
Instagram’s director of public policy, Tara Hopkins, emphasized the importance of knowing the age of profile users to ensure the platform’s age capabilities are realistic.
The created image will not be stored permanently, Instagram guarantees in its statement. If the user chooses to verify with an ID, the ID will be stored in a secure database for 30 days before being deleted.
Instagram decided to use Yoti, an age detection system, to verify video selfies. Yoti is a technique that can determine age, but is not suitable for use in facial recognition. In other words, the system will not know for sure whether the person in the photo and in the document is the same person. But the system will know how old the person is.
Hopkins believes that verifying the age of users is a crucial step for Instagram to ensure that the technology respects users’ privacy and is the most reliable means of verifying a person’s age.
Experts already fear that this step could be the beginning of document verification for all users of all social networks. If so, the Internet as we know it now may finally lose its anonymity.
