Instagram now asks new users to provide their date of birth when creating an account in a bid to protect children from inappropriate content
- Instagram has required users to be at least 13 years old in order to be a member
- However, the site has never created a system to ensure the age of its members
- Now, new users will be required to provide their date of birth when signing up
- This protects Instagram from breaking the Child Online Privacy Protection Act
Instagram requires its members be at least 13 years old, but the social media app does not have a protocol to enforce this rule –until now.
All new members will now be asked to provide a date of birth when creating an account, however, it will not be visible on profiles – but users can see it while viewing their own page.
The new addition is Instagram’s attempt to better protect young users and provide a ‘more age-appropriate experience overall’.
Instagram has been long criticized for not having a protocol in place to ensure young children are not creating accounts, as this leaves kids vulnerable to inappropriate content and lets Instagram collect data on the youngsters.
The Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 was created to limit how companies collect data on anyone under the age of 13 limits and in 2012, it expanded into new technologies, such as mobile devices and targeted ads.
So the new protocol, although designed to protect children, it will also protect Instagram from legal incidents.
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All new members will now be asked to provide a date of birth when creating an account, however, it will not be visible on profiles – but users can see it while viewing their own page
The firm noted in Wednesday’s announcement that it will pull birth date’s from Facebook for user’s who have connected their profile and editing your birth date on Facebook will do the same on Instagram.
For those who do not have a Facebook account, they can add or edit their date of birth directly on Instagram.
The social media app will also use the information to create more tailored experiences, such as education around account controls and recommended privacy settings for young people.
In addition to protecting children, Instagram is on a mission to protect mental health by hiding likes of users across the globe.
The new protocol, although designed to protect children, it will also protect Instagram from legal incidents, as it is illegal to collect data on children younger than 13 years old
In addition to protecting children, Instagram is on a mission to protect mental health by hiding likes of users across the globe. But many users are not happy about the change
The social media site announced its decision last month to remove likes and will be rolling it out in groups.
Users in the test will no longer be able to see how many likes a given post has, but like counts will still be available on their own posts.
However, this decision has sparked outrage among users -some called the move self-sabotaging and ‘stupid’, comparing Instagram abolishing likes to ‘Chick-Fil-A not selling chicken anymore’.
Others stated there a far better ways to improve the platform’s safety – and address the implications it may have on mental health – than simply obscuring one the app’s main functions.
Instagram has already experimented with the new feature in other parts of the world, including Canada, Australia, Japan, Ireland, Italy and Brazil, prior to the upcoming US trial.
Skaai Jackson believes Instagram should offer users a choice to hide their likes or not, rather than ‘forcing’ them to do it.
Additional users voiced beliefs that Instagram’s planned overhaul is attempting a marred attempt to stifle entrepreneurship and stop users from making money on their platform – without Instagram at least receiving a larger slice of the profits.
‘Instagram is starting to hide likes because they’re trying to slow down [people] creating businesses from their platform,’ a woman tweeted Saturday morning. ‘That’s why the algorithm is the way it is also. They want the control. Not us.’