Instagram Now Requires Users To Provide Their Age

Instagram Now Requires Users To Provide Their Age

Instagram is finally taking the basic step of asking people signing up for the service to provide their age in an attempt to better protect younger users.

Starting Wednesday, the photo-sharing service will ask new users for their date of birth when an account is created. Previously, Instagram users were required to confirm they were ages 13 or older when signing up, but they didn't have to provide an exact birthday.

Instagram has long valued anonymity, including not requiring people to use real names.

However, as with any other online service, it's possible users can lie about their age in order to join.

Users on Instagram will soon be required to enter their birth date in order to use the social networking app. The Facebook-owned company previously only checked that the new user was at least 13 years old.

The changes are being made in the hopes of making the platform safer for younger users, Instagram said in a statement. The birth dates will be used to recommend different privacy settings and features. Birthdays will not be visible to the public.

"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," Instagram wrote in a blog post.

Instagram said it would use age information to recommend younger people opt for more privacy settings, such as allowing new message requests only from people they follow.

It will also be used for targeted ads, an Instagram spokesperson told NPR.

"While we expect ads targeted by age to be more accurate on Instagram following this update, this isn't the reason we made these changes," Instagram said in an email. "Our focus is on developing new, age-appropriate experiences for young people using this information."

Instagram said ads for age-restricted products, such as alcohol and tobacco, will no longer be displayed for people under the legal age limit in their country.

The company also said it will soon give users more power to restrict who can send them direct messages.

Reaction to the announcement has been mixed. Many have noted that Instagram is not verifying birth dates, which will allow children to lie about their age to gain access to the platform. Others are wary about the social media giant's access to more personal data.

The changes come as lawmakers and agencies double down on enforcing the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, a law that bans online services from collecting personal data from children under 13. Earlier this year, YouTube paid the Federal Trade Commission a record $170 million to settle allegations that the company illegally collected children's personal information.

In recent months, Instagram has announced other changes to its user experience. Most recently, the app announced its plans to test hiding the number of "likes" on a post in an attempt to "depressurize" the platform.