Facebook and Instagram has announced that it will start locking account of it’s users who are under-aged.
An official of Facebook confirmed that it is changing it’s policy and will begin it’s crackdown of accounts its moderators believe to be owned by under-aged kids.
The minimum age for a user to be allowed to join Facebook or Instagram is 13 years, however it has been discovered that millions children from the ages of 7-12 already have active Facebook and Instagram accounts.
A lot of children actually lie about their age while creating their Facebook account and this has made it difficult for the social media giant to identify them but this time around Facebook is planning to use their pictures.
It’s former policy was to close down the accounts only if it was reported to them that the account belongs to an under-aged child but now it has amended that policy and will no longer wait for it to be reported.
Facebook says if an account is blocked as a result of the age been below the minimum of 13, the owner will have to prove that he/she is 13 years of age before the account will be unblocked.
This will be done by your ID card but the problem is that Facebook doesn’t do any form of verification during signup.
While Facebook is loosing a lot of teenagers and youths, Instagram is still very much popular among the youth.
Facebook currently prohibits children under the age of 13 from using the network so they will not be exposed to graphic contents or adverts for alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, sports betting and so on.
This will also enable them to comply with the Child Online Privacy Act.
Meanwhile Facebook has created a Messenger Kids App for under aged children and its available in some countries outside the US. The company says it will roll out the Messenger Kids App globally in the near future.
