“You’re not old enough to use Instagram”: how to appeal an age decision

• A birthday entered on the account says the person is under 13.
• Reports, or signals Instagram reviews to find likely under-13 accounts — Meta announced in 2026 that it uses AI to analyse whole profiles for contextual clues.
• Accounts of young-looking adults, family accounts and shared accounts are sometimes caught by mistake.

1. Tap Appeal at the bottom of the notice.
2. Follow the on-screen steps and submit a valid government ID.
3. Wait: Instagram may take up to 30 days to review the birthday.
4. If Instagram finds it made a mistake, it lets you know and restores the account.

If the notice says the account is locked and asks for ID within 14 days, do it within that window — you can’t log in until it’s done.

• Instagram works with Yoti, a third-party age-verification service. The technology estimates age; it can’t identify you.
• The image is deleted within 30 days of the estimate being shared with Instagram, and the result can take up to 20 minutes.
• Good light, whole face visible, no hat or mask, and move your face as asked.
• Instagram mainly uses it when someone changes their birthday — for example from under 18 to over 18. If your appeal screen only asks for ID, that is the route.

Instagram says it can’t give a parent access to a teen’s account or act on it at a parent’s request — privacy law generally prevents access by anyone who isn’t the account holder. Talk to your teen about the notice, and if they are 13 or older, they can appeal themselves with ID.

Only submit ID inside the Instagram app or its official Help Center. Emails and DMs offering to “restore your age-blocked account” are phishing — see fake Meta emails. If the appeal stalls on an adult’s account, our Instagram account recovery service prepares the case through official channels.