A step forward in child protection! WhatsApp bans ALL under-16s
... as Ireland’s digital age of consent remains at just 13 years old
ONLINE message service WhatsApp, which is popular for group chats among teenagers, is raising its minimum age to 16 in the EU.
The Facebook-owned service currently requires users to be at least age 13. However, it is unclear how the age limit will be enforced, given users only need a functioning mobile phone number to join now.
The move comes ahead of new EU privacy laws in May, the General Data Protection Regulation.
WhatsApp will ask users to confirm their age when prompting them to agree to new terms of service on the platform in the coming weeks.
It said it will not ask for any new rights to collect personal information as part of the new terms.
‘Our goal is simply to explain how we use and protect the limited information we have about you,’ the company said.
Fellow internet giants such as Facebook and Twitter have also been rolling out new terms of service ahead of the GDPR launch, in order to bring their businesses in line with the new regulations – which require clear consent from users to access their data.
The regulations also give users greater powers to access and control how their data is used, and the right to have personal data erased. WhatsApp said the update ensured it could ‘meet the new high standards of transparency for how we protect the privacy of our users’.
The company said it plans to keep the over-13 age restriction in the rest of the world.
It also confirmed it will launch a feature in the coming weeks that will enable users to download a copy of the data WhatsApp has collected on them – another requirement of GDPR.
It added: ‘WhatsApp cares deeply about your privacy and security. Every message and call is secured by end-to-end encryption so that no one, not even WhatsApp, can read or listen to your conversations.
‘In the coming weeks, you will be able to download and see the limited data that we collect. This feature will be rolling out to all users around the world on the newest version of the app.’
Called ‘Request Account Info’, this feature will enable WhatsApp users to download their account information.
It is due to be rolled out to all users via the latest update in a matter of weeks and will allow people to access all the data that WhatsApp has on them.
This information is stored on WhatsApp’s servers and includes information such as profile photos and even names of group chats.
Other information will include the make and model of the device they used, their contacts and any blocked numbers. The report will not contain any messages, although that option is also available through a separate feature.
Last month, WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton added his voice to calls for users to delete Facebook as fury mounted over the use of its customers’ private information.
Mr Acton tweeted: ‘It is time. #deletefacebook,’ as the hashtag trended over the social media giant’s links to controversial British data firm Cambridge Analytica.
Along with fellow co-founder Jan Koum, Mr Acton sold the messenger app to Facebook for $19billion (about €15.5billion) in 2014.
His call came as a former Facebook employee told British MPs the company had a ‘Wild West’ approach to looking after its users’ data. Whistleblower Sandy Parakilas claimed the tech giant ‘had very few ways of discovering abuse or enforcing on abuse when it was discovered’.