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Instagram will now require new users to enter in their birthdates for safety purposes

Why did this take so long?

Instagram app being shown on phone
Image: Unsplash

The age of an average Instagram user is between 25 and 34, which makes up a little over 36% of its user base. The youngest age bracket, 13 to 19, only makes up almost 4% of its users.

Why bring this up? Because there are more users who are younger than 13 who are lying about their age to sign up. Which may cause a lot of parents’ eyebrows to raise if they find out.

For a multitude of reasons, Instagram is implementing a policy for all users to submit their birthdates and verify their ages. The app will start educating younger users on privacy settings with certain features when they submit their ages.

Asking for this information will help prevent underage people from joining Instagram, help us keep young people safer and enable more age-appropriate experiences overall.

Yes, Instagram was one of the few ubiquitous social media platforms that didn’t ask for a user’s age. Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat all do, so it’s nice to see Instagram catching up.

Instagram wants users to no longer lie about their age with this new feature

Instagram birthdays

Image: Instagram

If your account is linked with your Facebook account, then your age from FB will appear on your IG profile. However, if your Facebook profiles don’t have an age listed, you will have to submit it to Instagram first.

The biggest takeaway from Instagram’s new birth date policy does not only make it safer for younger users, but they want to personalize their experience, as well. Through this, Instagram can place more age-appropriate content under its Explore feature.

Another feature of Instagram is going to start doing is giving users control over their DMs. By administering this, users of all ages will be able to choose if people they don’t follow can direct message them or add them to group threads.

Why did it take Instagram so long to start doing this? They stated in an interview with TechCrunch the company wanted its users to be “able to express themselves.” That’s a reason alright?

What do you think? Surprised that it took Instagram this long to implement an age check? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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