In the UK and Europe, WhatsApp is reducing the minimum age requirement for its well-known messaging service from 16 to 13.
It now aligns with other nations, such as the US and Australia, thanks to the change.
However, the age restriction relies on the user’s honesty in declaring their age, and parents monitoring children’s phones to ensure they haven’t been using it before turning 16.
WhatsApp is making a number of other changes to its terms and conditions following the introduction of the EU’s new Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act.
Other updates include more information about content moderation in Channels and what is and isn’t allowed on the app.
However, there will be no change in the platform’s end-to-end encryption. The platform also has a number of other functions to maintain privacy, including those the NSPCC recommends using to protect children’s safety, such as the default ‘privacy’ setting and the ability to block contacts.
A spokesperson for WhatsApp said: ‘These updates for users in the European Region do not change our commitment to user privacy and do not expand any data sharing when messaging other WhatsApp users.
‘Wherever you are in the world, we protect all personal messages with end-to-end encryption, which means no one, not even WhatsApp, can read or listen to them.’
One major change set to be rolled out soon will be the ability to message other platforms from within WhatsApp. Known as ‘interoperability’, the move has been confirmed by WhatsApp.
However, it is not yet known which other platforms it will connect to beyond Facebook Messenger, which is owned by WhatsApp’s parent company Meta.
