European WhatsApp rises minimum age to 16

However, it plans to continue with its age limit of 13 in the rest of the world.

Users of WhatsApp will have to at least 16 under new rules being brought in by the service.

WhatsApp are also giving users the ability to download a report detailing all the information the company holds on them. The sudden change of strategy may have come along the heels of the fact that recently, WhatsApp has come under the scanner across Europe for its end-to-end encoded messaging system and its tactic to share more information with its parent organization, Facebook. The app captured data on an estimated 87 million Facebook users, though Kogan indicated on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” that other apps may have done the same thing and the amount of personal data shared may be much higher.

The uneven responses among the companies are frustrating privacy advocates, who argue that the arrival of GDPR offers an opportunity for fundamental change – beyond just a series of new explanations and consent boxes that users are asked to check. Teens aged between 13 and 15 will have to get permission from their parents to share personal information on the app. Although, it will soon give users the opportunity to download and see the “limited data” it collects on its users.

To learn more, watch the Spring 2018 virtual launch event when Informatica unveiled the latest stage in the company’s journey to Reimagine Hybrid Data Management at Scale.

In one month, the European Union will introduce strict personal data protections, which will restrict how tech companies collect and use your data.

If permission is not provided, the user will not see a fully personalised version of the social network. They must make “reasonable efforts to verify” user ages, “taking into consideration available technology”. Facebook plans to introduce new measures to improve ad transparency in the U.K.by June, and require political ads to be clearly labeled, the company told a parliamentary committee.

“The odd thing about it is that of the Facebook family of platforms – Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp – Whatsapp is the one you’d be least likely to worry about your children accessing”, he said. Facebook, on the other hand, is approaching a different strategy altogether in order to comply with European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law as it has a separate data policy.

It also includes specific rules to protect youngsters whose personal data is processed to provide them with online services.