WhatApp raises minimum age in Europe to 16 ahead of new privacy law changes, will soon let you download data it collects

WhatsApp today announced that it is raising the minimum age to use their services from 13 to 16 in Europe ahead of the new privacy law changes. These new data law changes come into force next month. In the next few weeks, WhatsApp will ask users to confirm if they are at least 16 years old when they are prompted to agree with new terms of service and a privacy policy provided by a new WhatsApp Ireland Ltd entity. However, it is unclear how WhatsApp will check the age limit given the limited permissions and data request. Facebook, on the other hand, is using a different approach for users between 13-15. It will ask the users within the age limit to nominate a parent or guardian to permit for them to share information on the platform. If the users don't nominate, they won't have access to a fully personalized version of the social media platform. WhatsApp in a blog post has in a blog post made it clear that it was not asking for any new rights to collect personal information inline with the new agreement it has created for the European Union. However, WhatsApp's age restriction will remain 13 in the rest of the world just ...