Social media big WhatsApp has triggered a wave of concern after it introduced it was decreasing its minimal age of use by three years from 16 to 13.
The messaging firm, owned by Meta, introduced the change earlier this week.
In response, youngster security teams and different specialists have urged Meta – which additionally owns Fb and Instagram – to reverse the change over issues for kids’s welfare.
Statistics recommend WhatsApp is the second hottest social media platform for kids with over 55 p.c of three- to 17-year-olds considered utilizing it, in response to Ofcom.
Marketing campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood is likely one of the teams calling for Meta to reverse the choice.
Talking to the Occasions, co-founder of Smartphone Free Childhood Daisy Greenwood described the transfer as “tone deaf” and one which was “placing shareholder earnings first”.
Ms Greenwood added that it “ignores the more and more loud alarm bells being rung by scientists, docs, academics, youngster security specialists, mother and father and psychological well being specialists alike”.
The co-founder additionally defined that WhatsApp “works like a gateway drug for the remainder of the social media apps. In case you’re messaging your mates on WhatsApp, why not message them on Snapchat?”.
She additionally mentioned that whereas WhatsApp can typically be seen as only a messaging platform in some instances it was a lot extra and one the place youngsters have been uncovered to “excessive content material”.
Conservative member of the training choose committee Vicky Ford echoed requires a reversal of the choice. She mentioned: “Social media could be very damaging for younger individuals. WhatsApp, as a result of it’s end-to-end encrypted, is doubtlessly much more harmful, as unlawful content material can’t be simply eliminated.
“So for Meta to unilaterally determine to cut back the age suggestion for WhatsApp, with out listening to affected mother and father, appears to me to be extremely irresponsible.”
The choice by Meta to vary its guidelines on WhatsApp comes almost 4 years after a research of 9 to 17-year-olds discovered that over half – 56 p.c – skilled victimisation or bullying of their teams on the messaging app.
Fellow tutorial Dr Katilyn Regehr from College Faculty London highlighted how the content material inside closed teams can typically be worse than it’s on platforms the place everybody can see the posts.
