Meta Accused of Being ‘Tone Deaf’ After Reducing Minimum Age on WhatsApp

Published on April 12, 2024

Social media giant Meta has been accused of being “tone deaf” after it lowered the minimum age for using WhatsApp in Britain and the European Union from 16 to 13. It comes as campaigners are trying to persuade the government to ban the use of smartphones by those under the age of 16 because of fears of cyberbullying and other threats. A poll commissioned by the charity Parentkind suggested 58 percent of parents would support a ban on under-16s using smartphones. In March 2021, Mia Janin, 14, a pupil at the Jewish Free School in north London, committed suicide after enduring cyber-bullying. At an inquest in January this year, coroner Tony Murphy concluded she, “took her life while still a child and while still in the process of maturing into adulthood.”...

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