Meta accused of being ‘tone deaf’ after WhatsApp’s minimum age drops to 13

Meta, the social media giant behind WhatsApp, has been accused of being “tone deaf” after it lowered the minimum age for the app in Britain from 16 to 13 on Thursday.

MPs, campaign groups and teachers criticised the change by Meta, while a parent-backed campaign demanded that the American company reverses course.

The campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood has signed up 60,000 parents who oppose the move, designed to bring the age requirement in line with other countries.

Daisy Greenwell, the campaign’s co-founder, said: “WhatsApp are putting shareholder profits first and children’s safety second. Reducing their age of use from 16 to 13 years old is completely tone deaf and ignores the increasingly loud alarm bells being rung by scientists, doctors, teachers, child safety experts, parents and mental health experts alike.

“This policy boosts their user figures and maximises shareholder profits at the expense of children’s safety.”

Teachers backing the campaign criticised the move on the grounds that WhatsApp can be used in schools for almost invisible bullying.

Mike Baxter, head of the City of London Academy in south London, said that messages shared on the app in the middle of the night was “not conducive for any 12 or 13-year-old to sleep well”.

‘Potentially even more dangerous’

Vicky Ford, a Tory member of the Commons’ education committee, told The Times: “Social media can be very damaging for young people. WhatsApp, because it’s end-to-end encrypted, is potentially even more dangerous, as illegal content cannot be easily removed.

“So for Meta to unilaterally decide to reduce the age recommendation for WhatsApp, without listening to affected parents, seems to me to be highly irresponsible.”

It comes after a poll of parents by the charity Parentkind found 80 per cent believe social media age limits are too low.

WhatsApp is one of the most popular apps used by young people, allowing users to communicate using encrypted messages that third parties, including the police, cannot access.

A key feature is its ability to create private groups connecting friends, allowing communication with no parental or teacher oversight.

Researchers believe such groups on social media fuel bullying.

Kaitlyn Regehr, a researcher at University College London, said: “Private, or closed, groups can enable more extreme material being shared, which in turn can have implications for young people’s offline behaviours.

“Young people increasingly exist within digital echo chambers, which can normalise harmful rhetoric.”

End-to-end encryption

The backlash against WhatApps follows separate criticism that its app, unlike email services, is secured through end-to-end encryption that prevents the authorities reading messages.

This security has long caused concerns that it allows child abusers to hide their deeds on secure messaging apps, while police services have argued it can hamper counter-terror investigations.

Meta was approached for comment.