It’s not secret that Facebook and Instagram are ridiculously lax about their minimum age policy. But that may be about to change, as enforcement teams at each of the sites have been instructed to take a slightly more active role in preventing children from signing up for accounts.
Moderators have been instructed to lock any account on Facebook or Instagram is suspected of being owned by a person younger than 13-years old. Which happens to be the minimum age for either of these sites; since it never actually comes up .
That said, a spokesman told TechCrunch that these moderators would not be actively looking for those that violate the age policy. Instead, they will simply lock any offending account that they stumble upon or is reported. While it’s a step up from the previous policy, it really doesn’t help much.
For the most part, this doesn’t affect Facebook. Seeing that a large portion of youngsters prefer alternatives like Instagram. In fact, chances are that there won’t be much enforcement that needs to be done in the coming years. On the other hand, Instagram may see a drop in active users if moderators begin clamping down on those too young to actually use it.
Age limits exist on social media sites due data collection laws, which require consent from adults in the case of minors. However, most social media sites don’t enforce this requirement. With most barely even asking for proper age verification.
[Source: TechCrunch]
