Instagram has started asking new subscribers for their date of birth. Users who indicate they are under the age of 13, as per Instagram’s terms of service.
The move is part of a number of measures that they say are designed to make the popular picture-sharing site safer for younger people.
We all know that this will not stop under 13’s signing up. My own experience of my nieces and nephews on Facebook shows how quickly they work out how to get around this. The re is no requirement to send through an official age verification – yet.
Other features such as plans to target messages to educate young people around account controls and privacy settings are a good idea.
At the same time, they will be adding controls to messaging privacy for all users, helping them control who can message them and who can be added to groups.
So will one day Instagram and others be asking for ID before you can set up an account? The British government’s delays in setting up age-verification for adult sites have shown this is by no means an easy thing.
The one thing I know is that if our enterprising youngsters want to get around any verification requirements – they will.
Christopher Wellbelove DL 