A Kid With a Fake Mustache Tricked an Online Age-Verification Tool

一个戴着假胡子的孩子骗过了在线年龄验证工具

Meta is beefing up its age-verification mechanisms with an AI system that analyzes images and videos on Instagram and Facebook for “visual cues,” such as height and bone structure, to identify and delete accounts of users under the age of 13. The company announced the move amid a wave of cases in which hundreds of children have managed to evade social network access restrictions, even through simple tricks such as drawing on a mustache.

Meta 正在加强其年龄验证机制，引入了一套人工智能系统，通过分析 Instagram 和 Facebook 上的图片与视频中的“视觉线索”（如身高和骨骼结构），来识别并删除 13 岁以下用户的账户。该公司宣布此举的背景是，近期出现了大量儿童通过简单的手段（例如画上胡子）成功绕过社交网络访问限制的案例。

The new approach is part of a series of measures Meta adopted as part of an AI-based security strategy designed to correct the limitations of traditional methods, which rely heavily on self-reported age. With this change, the company seeks to reduce the ease with which minors access platforms that, in theory, are restricted to them.

这一新方法是 Meta 采用的一系列基于人工智能的安全策略的一部分，旨在纠正传统方法过度依赖用户自报年龄的局限性。通过这一改变，该公司试图降低未成年人访问理论上对其设限平台的便利性。

In a press release, Meta explained that it is implementing several tools to identify contextual indicators that allow estimating a person’s age. This process includes the analysis of posts, comments, bios, and descriptions, with special attention to references related to school years or birthday celebrations—elements that can offer clues about the real age of the person who manages the account.

Meta 在一份新闻稿中解释称，他们正在实施多种工具来识别能够估算用户年龄的背景指标。这一过程包括分析帖子、评论、个人简介和描述，并特别关注与学年或生日庆祝活动相关的提及内容——这些元素可以为判断账户持有人的真实年龄提供线索。

These tools are in addition to automated analysis techniques aimed at detecting physical traits from imagery shared to Meta’s social platforms. These include characteristics such as height and bone structure. Meta is careful to stipulate that this system is not face recognition, as it does not seek to identify specific individuals in images or videos. Instead, the company notes that, “by combining these visual insights with our analysis of text and interactions, we can significantly increase the number of underage accounts we identify and remove.”

除了这些工具外，Meta 还采用了旨在从分享到其社交平台的图像中检测身体特征的自动化分析技术，包括身高和骨骼结构等特征。Meta 特别声明，该系统并非人脸识别，因为它并不试图识别图像或视频中的特定个人。相反，该公司指出：“通过将这些视觉洞察与我们对文本和互动的分析相结合，我们可以显著增加识别并删除未成年人账户的数量。”

If, based on these elements, Meta suspects that an account is managed by a child under 13, it will be suspended. The user will have to revalidate their age using the procedures established by the company to regain access; otherwise, the profile will be permanently deleted.

如果根据这些要素，Meta 怀疑某个账户由 13 岁以下的儿童管理，该账户将被暂停。用户必须使用公司规定的程序重新验证年龄才能恢复访问权限；否则，该个人资料将被永久删除。

Meta also announced that it will expand the scope of its technology to detect users between the ages of 13 and 15 and automatically assign them teen accounts. This type of profile incorporates content restrictions and parental controls enabled by default, with the aim of providing a safer environment for this age group.

Meta 还宣布将扩大其技术应用范围，以检测 13 至 15 岁的用户，并自动为其分配青少年账户。此类个人资料默认启用内容限制和家长控制功能，旨在为该年龄段用户提供更安全的环境。

Meta began implementing age-verification tech in 2024 for Instagram users in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Now, the mechanism will be extended to Instagram accounts in Brazil and 27 European Union countries. In addition, these practices will be applied for the first time to Facebook users in the US, with plans to expand to the EU and UK next month.

Meta 于 2024 年开始在美国、澳大利亚、加拿大和英国的 Instagram 用户中实施年龄验证技术。现在，该机制将扩展至巴西和欧盟 27 个国家的 Instagram 账户。此外，这些做法将首次应用于美国的 Facebook 用户，并计划于下个月扩展至欧盟和英国。

Looking All Grown-Up

看上去已经长大了

The new measures have been interpreted as a response to a preliminary ruling recently issued by the European Commission, which concluded that the company led by Mark Zuckerberg is in breach of the Digital Services Act for allegedly failing to effectively prevent children under 13 from using its platforms. The EU body found that the company lacks sufficiently effective mechanisms to block such access and that its current systems for identifying and suspending accounts below the age threshold are insufficient.

这些新措施被解读为对欧盟委员会近期初步裁决的回应。该裁决认为，马克·扎克伯格领导的 Meta 公司因未能有效阻止 13 岁以下儿童使用其平台，违反了《数字服务法案》。欧盟机构发现，该公司缺乏足够有效的机制来阻止此类访问，且其目前识别和暂停未达年龄门槛账户的系统尚显不足。

These criticisms are supported by the results of a survey conducted by the nonprofit Internet Matters. After surveying nearly 1,300 children and their parents in the UK, the study revealed that approximately one-third of children have successfully evaded government-imposed restrictions on access to social networking sites. In some cases, the methods employed are particularly striking.

这些批评得到了非营利组织 Internet Matters 所做调查结果的支持。该研究调查了英国近 1,300 名儿童及其父母，结果显示约有三分之一的儿童成功绕过了政府对社交网站的访问限制。在某些情况下，他们所采用的方法尤其令人震惊。

The report, titled “The Online Safety Act: Are Children Safe Online?” showed that 46 percent of 9- to 16-year-olds believe that circumventing age controls is very easy. In total, however, only 32 percent admitted to breaking the rules.

这份题为《在线安全法案：儿童在线安全吗？》的报告显示，46% 的 9 至 16 岁青少年认为绕过年龄控制非常容易。然而，总计只有 32% 的人承认自己违反了规定。

Among the most common techniques is registration with a false date of birth, a widespread practice. Other methods include the use of official IDs of older people, submitting verification videos with adult faces, using video game characters in place of real faces, and drawing on mustaches to fool automated systems.

最常见的手段之一是使用虚假的出生日期注册，这是一种普遍的做法。其他方法还包括使用成年人的官方身份证件、提交带有成年人面孔的验证视频、用电子游戏角色代替真实面孔，以及画上胡子来欺骗自动化系统。

The mother of a 12-year-old boy told researchers that she discovered her son using an eyebrow pencil to draw a mustache in an attempt to appear older to the verification system. The result was, to say the least, unusual: The system classified the child as a 15-year-old.

一位 12 岁男孩的母亲告诉研究人员，她发现儿子用眉笔画了一撇胡子，试图让验证系统认为他年龄更大。结果至少可以说是不寻常的：系统将这个孩子判定为 15 岁。

In its official blog, Meta says that no single company will be able to solve the challenge of effective and timely age verification in digital environments. Instead, it’s suggesting legislation that forces app stores to verify the age of users, as well as to establish parental approval systems. The intention is that this information can be shared with apps and their developers, providing a “centralized, consistent, and privacy-preserving point of age assurance.”

Meta 在其官方博客中表示，没有任何一家公司能够单独解决数字环境中有效且及时进行年龄验证的挑战。相反，它建议通过立法强制应用商店验证用户年龄，并建立家长批准系统。其目的是将这些信息与应用程序及其开发者共享，从而提供一个“集中、一致且保护隐私的年龄认证点”。