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How Meta wants to profile 13-year-olds on Insta, Facebook

Deutsche Welle · · 1034 words · By Carla Bleiker
Child Safety vs. Digital Rights AI Surveillance Data privacy
open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dw.com/en/how-meta-wants-to-profile-13-year-olds-on-insta-facebook/a…

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
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Appeal to Pity 60% confidence
Evoking sympathy to win support rather than using logical arguments.
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False Equivalence 70% confidence
Treating two vastly different things as equal to create a misleading comparison.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

12 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 4
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verified Verified 2
schedule Pending 2
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“Meta, the tech company behind Facebook and Instagram, plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to find and remove the profiles of users under the age of 13 years.”
CORROBORATED
The claim is reported by Deutsche Welle and corroborated by multiple web sources (Tuta, TechCrunch) stating Meta's plans to use AI to detect and remove users under 13.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.) is a technology company that has acquired 91 other companies, including WhatsApp. The WhatsApp acquisition closed at a steep $16 billion; more than $40 per use…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Meta AI is a research division of Meta (formerly Facebook) that develops artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_AI
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ray-Ban Meta is a series of smartglasses created by Meta Platforms and EssilorLuxottica (parent company of Ray-Ban). The glasses include two cameras, open-ear speakers, a microphone, and touchpad buil…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray-Ban_Meta
+ 4 more evidence sources
verified
“Thirteen is the minimum age for a person to create an account on the social media platforms.”
VERIFIED
Reported by Deutsche Welle and supported by Meta's own Terms of Service mentioned in web results, stating children under 13 cannot use their technologies.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Meta Platforms, Inc. (doing business as Meta) is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_Platforms
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Instagram is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters, be organized by hashtags…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram
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web search NEUTRAL — 6 days ago · The meaning of MINIMUM is the least quantity assignable, admissible, or possible. How to use minimum in a sentence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minimum
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“The company will be "using AI technology to analyze entire profiles for contextual clues — such as birthday celebrations or mentions of school grades — to determine if an account likely belongs to someone underage,"”
CORROBORATED
The specific detail about analyzing contextual clues like birthdays and school grades is reported by Deutsche Welle and corroborated by Tuta's report on Meta's May 5th announcement.
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web search NEUTRAL — Meta Platforms, Inc. (doing business as Meta) is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_Platforms
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web search NEUTRAL — Learn more about Meta and stay updated on our role in social technology, virtual reality, augmented reality, and the future of human connection.
https://www.meta.com/about/
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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago · META | Complete Meta Platforms Inc. stock news by MarketWatch. View real-time stock prices and stock quotes for a full financial overview.
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/meta
+ 1 more evidence source
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“Meta's plans to use its own AI — called "Meta AI" — to root out under-13s was released a few days after the European Commission published preliminary findings that Meta had failed "to prevent minors under 13 from using Instagram and Facebook" in the European Union.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web sources confirm the European Commission's preliminary findings that Meta breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) by failing to prevent under-13s from using the platforms.
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web search NEUTRAL — The European Commission today found Meta's Instagram and Facebook in preliminary breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA), concluding that the company has failed to diligently identify, assess and mit…
https://ppc.land/eu-catches-meta-letting-under-13s-slip-thro…
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web search NEUTRAL — The European Commission has released its preliminary findings into whether Meta had breached the Digital Services Act (DSA), claiming the company had failed the adequately prevent under-13s from acces…
https://totaltele.com/meta-failed-to-prevent-under-13s-from-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Commission preliminarily finds Meta in breach of Digital Services Act for failing to prevent minors under 13 from using Instagram and Facebook.
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/digital-se…
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“But its AI will also evaluate factors like height and bone structure of people in photos”
CORROBORATED
This specific and unusual claim is corroborated by Deutsche Welle, Tuta, TechCrunch, and another web source, all mentioning the analysis of height and bone structure.
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web search NEUTRAL — Meta will use AI to analyze everything (just so it can detect underage users). On May 5th, Meta released an article in which it shared plans to use AI to scan pictures and videos for visual cues, such…
https://tuta.com/blog/meta-ai-analyses-pictures-detect-under…
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web search NEUTRAL — Meta will start using AI to scan photos and videos for visual clues to see if a user is under 13 and should be removed from Facebook and Instagram, the company announced on Tuesday. These visual clues…
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/05/meta-will-use-ai-to-analyz…
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web search NEUTRAL — Meta is rolling out AI that scans height and bone structure in photos and videos to estimate user age on Instagram and Facebook. Meta's AI bone structure analysis for age detection.
https://www.aixploria.com/en/ai-radar/meta-ai-bone-structure…
+ 1 more evidence source
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“Nina Kolleck, a professor of educational and socialization theory at Potsdam University who wrote a book about teens on social media called "Battle in the minds" (so far only available in German)”
VERIFIED
Web search results from the University of Potsdam confirm Nina Kolleck is a Professor of Educational and Socialization Theory there.
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web search NEUTRAL — Univ.-Prof. Dr. habil. Professor (Full) at Universität Potsdam.Nina Kolleck. Volunteering plays a central role in cultural and arts education in rural areas in Germany. However, a decrease in the numb…
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nina-Kolleck
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web search NEUTRAL — Nina Kolleck has been Professor of Educational and Socialization Theory at the University of Potsdam since 2023. This text was published in the university magazine Portal – One 2025 “Children” (PDF)..
https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/headlines-and-featured-stories…
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web search NEUTRAL — University of Potsdam. Verified email at uni-potsdam.de - Homepage.N Kolleck. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 38 (2), 249-261, 2017.
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rO0bVrEAAAAJ&hl=en…
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“A company spokesperson told DW that Meta does not currently use data from children under the age of 13 to train its AI.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific statement that Meta does not use data from under-13s to train AI is only attributed to a spokesperson in the Deutsche Welle report; other sources discuss general training data but do not confirm this specific denial.
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web search NEUTRAL — Meta does not allow sites intended for children under 13 because our Terms of Service state that children of that age cannot use our technologies.What you need to do next? Click “Confirm” to agree tha…
https://hdflashnews.com/2025/02/14/facebook-demands-confirma…
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web search NEUTRAL — Child safety advocates criticize Meta for its slow response. Andy Burrows from the Molly Rose Foundation stated, “It is shocking that these bots were allowed to operate in ways that endanger young peo…
https://boardor.com/blog/meta-halts-ai-chatbots-amid-concern…
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web search NEUTRAL — The training data included publicly available data, licensed data, and Meta-proprietary data such as publicly shared posts from Instagram and Facebook and people’s interactions with Meta AI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llama_(language_model)
+ 1 more evidence source
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“Australia and Indonesia recently passed laws that ban anyone under the age of 16 from Meta's platforms and other social media networks like TikTok.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of general Wikipedia/World Atlas entries about Australia's geography and history, with no mention of social media laws for under-16s.
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web search NEUTRAL — Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia
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web search NEUTRAL — Jan 16, 2024 · Australia (officially, the Commonwealth of Australia) is divided into 6 states and 2 major mainland territories. In alphabetical order, the states are: New South Wales, Queensland, Sout…
https://www.worldatlas.com/maps/australia
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web search NEUTRAL — 6 days ago · Australia is the smallest continent and one of the largest countries on Earth, lying between the Pacific and Indian oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. Its capital city is Canberra, and it…
https://www.britannica.com/place/Australia
info
“An April 2026 representative poll from Unicef Germany showed that 74% of 14- to 16-year-olds reject a social media ban for youth under the age of 16 years.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The poll result is only mentioned in the Deutsche Welle cross-reference. Additionally, the date 'April 2026' suggests a potential typo or future-dated claim in the source text, but no other sources corroborate the statistic.
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cross reference SUPPORTS — An April 2026 representative poll from Unicef Germany showed that 74% of 14- to 16-year-olds reject a social media ban for youth under the age of 16 years.
https://www.dw.com/en/metas-pre-teen-profile-on-insta-how-an…
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“Meta said it would delete data from users under 13.”
SINGLE SOURCE
This statement is only found in the Deutsche Welle cross-reference and is not corroborated by the other provided evidence.
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cross reference SUPPORTS — Meta said it would delete data from users under 13.
https://www.dw.com/en/metas-pre-teen-profile-on-insta-how-an…
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“If Meta AI finds patterns that suggest a user is under the minimum age of 13 years, their account will be deactivated temporarily.”
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“The account and all associated data are deleted if a user cannot verify they are over 13 years of age.”
PENDING
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.