Instagram, as well as many social media platforms, do not encourage people under the age of 12 to surf their platforms. However, we must admit that such a rule doesn’t really restrict anyone from joining Instagram, or any other social media site. But, things have now changed. As a matter of fact, new Instagram users are now required to provide their birthdays when registering.
Honestly, this doesn’t really seem like a big change. But, the truth is that having new users input their birthdays when creating an account is going to be of great help to protect minors on the platform.
The reason behind the Instagram birthday registration
So, one of the reasons why Instagram is implementing this measurement is to protect minors from ads they shouldn’t see. You see, anyone over the age of 13 can join the photo-sharing app. And thus they can see pretty much anything that is published on the platform. The fact of the matter is that there are millions of brands advertising on Instagram every month.
Of course, some of these brands offer products that should not appear in kid’s feed. Alcohol, condoms, etc. So, in order to regulate this problem, the social media giant has set a rule in which every new user will need to provide their birthday. This way if a 13-year-old registers on the platform, they won’t be able to see ads that are not suitable for their age.
Moreover, minors on Instagram will have the option to block messages from people they don’t follow. Something that was not available in prior months. And finally, brands and creators are going to have the power to restrict minors from viewing their posts.
Note
Even though new users are now required to enter their birthdays when creating a new Instagram account. The platform has stated that they will not verify whether or not the information is accurate. At least not at first. But, plans are in motion to integrate AI that will take care of the whole age verification process in the future. Just not now.
For now, Instagram trusts that people will be honest and won’t lie about their age when creating a new account.
