Meta is unleashing AI that scans users’ bodies — from face shape to height — in an aggressive bid to root out underage accounts on Facebook and Instagram. The company announced Tuesday it was developing “advanced AI” that includes the use of visual analysis for detecting underage accounts. This new visual analysis technique will enable Meta’s AI to scan photos and videos for “visual clues” about a user’s age – including one’s height and bone structure. These visual insights will be combined with Meta’s analysis of text and interactions in a bid to significantly increase the number of underage accounts it can spot and remove. Meta said it was also adopting AI-powered textual analysis to analyse entire profiles for contextual clues – such as birthday celebrations or mentions of school grades – across posts, comments, profile bios, captions, and in-app features such as Instagram Reels, Instagram Live, and Facebook Groups. “If we determine an account may be underage, it will be deactivated and the account holder will need to verify their age to continue using their account,” a Meta spokesperson said. Australian rollout coming Following a testing period in the US, Meta has planned to globally expand its visual analysis technology to under-13s over the coming months. A spokesperson confirmed to Information Age that an Australian rollout for under-16s will follow, bolstering Meta’s compliance with the country’s social media minimum age (SMMA) laws. “In Australia, we are committed to complying with the social media ban and are extending these advanced detection tools to under-16s in the coming weeks and months,” said Antigone Davis, vice president and global head of safety at Meta. As of January, Meta had blocked more than 544,000 under-16s from its platforms in Australia. Further to removing accounts for underage users, Meta said it would also expand