The most used instant messaging application in the world has decided to relax a limitation that regulated its use. L’Whatsapp minimum age until a few days ago it was equal to 16 years: this means that, given the terms of service, younger people cannot install the application.
WhatsApp has just announced that it has extended the possibility of using the messaging platform to users of under 16 years of age. From 11 April 2024, residents of Europe and the United Kingdom must be at least 13 years old, no longer 16, to use WhatsApp.
Meta is sitting on the powder magazine age verification with the change just applied to WhatsApp
The choice to lower the minimum threshold for installing and using WhatsApp to 13 years is a strong decision, which is already causing a lot of discussion.
The main associations dealing with protection of minors observe that with the decision that has just been made, and formalized in these pages, Meta sends an unequivocal message. The company founded by Mark Zuckerberg seems to implicitly indicate that messaging is safe and that therefore there are no risks for younger users, even in early adolescence.
As we know, this cannot be true. Also depending on WhatsApp settingsthe receipt of offensive messages from strangers or individuals trying to carry out illicit practices is not excluded.
Meta has aligned the terms of use of its service, also extending it to 13 year olds, with the conditions long in force in other countries around the world.
Age verification remains a question mark
In Europe the Guarantor authorities for the protection of personal data are increasingly focusing on the correct implementation of mechanisms aimed at age control (age verification).
The EU accuses TikTok of not blocking the service to children but many other providers of online services and content also do not seem to do enough on this specific issue. A simple one Yes No upon request”Are you an adult?” can actually result in an overly simplistic approach to the problem.
Look around. If you have children who are in the last years of primary school (not to mention middle school…), how many of their peers already use WhatsApp?
We do not want to delve into didactic, educational, psychological and social evaluations. They certainly don’t compete with us. But if you had answered “many” to the previous question, it is clear that the mechanism of age verification it does not work. It’s too easy to declare that you are at least 16 years old (now 13 years old) and continue using the app.
The idea of SPID it was and remains good, despite the recent shift towards the CIE (Electronic Identity Card, in another article we see the differences between SPID and CIE). This mechanism (also provided experimentally to minors) allows any provider, not only public bodies but also private individuals, to be offered certification of the user’s real identity. Moreover, providing only this data, without the need to share other personal information (data minimization principle required by the GDPR).
What we mean is that if you wanted to make a verify serious aboutage of users, it must necessarily be certified by a third party, independent and reliable. It is not possible to settle for a simple “Yes“on request”I am over X years old – Come in“. Some parental control systems are effective but are parents able to set them up correctly?