Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has doubled down on its efforts to keep teenagers safe on its platforms, expanding its age verification and anti-bullying features to "support young people online".

The move appears to come in response to the growing momentum behind several campaigns calling on the politicians to raise the legal age of social media use to 16, citing the impacts of social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok on the development and mental health of Australian children.

"Our priority continues to be investing in privacy-preserving tools and features that help support young people online. Following the success of the age verification tool on Instagram, we have been working behind the scenes for some time to see this feature expanded on our Facebook app in Australia, ensuring that everyone has age-appropriate experiences on Facebook," said Meta Group Industry Director, Naomi Shepherd.

The age verification feature, which was already rolled out on Instagram in Australia in 2023, will ensure that Facebook users who attempt to change their date of birth from under 18 to over 18 will be asked to verify their age either by uploading a video selfie or submitting an ID. The feature is delivered through a partnership with Yoti, a firm specialising in online age verification.

In addition to expanding its age verification tools, Meta is also enhancing its 'Limits' feature on Instagram to better safeguard young people from cyberbullying. 'Limits' will now offer teens an easy way to hide interactions, such as comments, DMs, and tags, from people who aren't on their Close Friends list without letting others know their content isn't being shown.

"We also know bullying can be very personal for teens and they may be hesitant to take direct action, like blocking. Even an innocuous word or emoji might mean nothing to one person but be upsetting to another. The ‘Limits,’ feature will now give teens more ways to manage their online environments, including bullying, when they’re worried about blocking leading to retaliation in person, like at school. With this expansion, teens can limit interactions to Close Friends only, and we’ll prompt teens to turn it on if we detect they’re experiencing a wave of bullying," Shepherd said.

Meta will also expand its 'Restrict' feature, which allows teens to take action on a specific bully without having to block them. Now, when a user restricts someone, in addition to hiding their comments, any tags or mentions by that person will only be visible to the person who has been restricted.

"These are important updates but our work never stops in this space. We’ll continue to have teams dedicated to building tools and features that give teens safe, age appropriate and positive experiences on our apps," Shepherd said.