Facebook says it will begin proactively locking accounts of those under 13 on Instagram and Facebook, after report showed relaxed attitude by moderators
Facebook and Instagram will more proactively lock the accounts of users its moderators suspect are below the age of 13.
Context & Ripple Effects
This 2018 commitment is the opening move in a long arc of Facebook and Instagram struggling with underage users: a report found moderators took a relaxed attitude toward enforcing the under-13 rule, forcing the company to promise proactive account locks rather than reactive takedowns.
The problem never went away — it escalated. By 2021 Instagram was reportedly building a dedicated version for kids under 13 (a project led by VP Pavni Diwanji) while simultaneously restricting adult-teen contact, and by 2022 it was piloting actual age verification with Yoti's facial analysis (photo IDs or adult vouching) and defaulting new under-16 users to its most restrictive settings (with prompts for existing teens). The 2018 lockout policy is the moment enforcement shifted from trusting self-reported birthdays to acting on suspicion.
First-order effects
- Moderators move from reviewing reported underage accounts to proactively locking any they suspect is under 13, meaning some legitimate teen and adult users will lose access pending appeal.
Second-order effects
- Self-reported birthdates prove insufficient once enforcement turns proactive, pushing Facebook toward real age-assurance tooling — the path that led to the Yoti facial-analysis and photo-ID verification tests four years later.
Third-order effects
- If platforms can't reliably keep under-13s out, the structural answer splits in two: verified gatekeeping on the main service, and a sanctioned, purpose-built product for younger children — exactly the fork Instagram pursued with its kids-version project and restrictive teen defaults.
The trend: Social platforms are shifting from honor-system age declarations toward active age assurance — locking, verifying, and segmenting young users — as regulator and press scrutiny of underage use intensifies.