WhatsApp Will Soon Ask For Birth Date If You Live In This Country: Here's Why

WhatsApp wants to know the age of some of its users and for that it will soon start asking for your date of birth before you are able to access the messaging app. The feature is being built into the Android version for development and will eventually come to the beta update in the next few weeks.

WhatsApp is basically complying with legal norms of different countries, something it has recently adopted in the EU region where messages can be interoperable, and people can send chats from WhatsApp to Telegram or Signal.

Why Does WhatsApp Want To Know My Age?

So, why does WhatsApp need to know your age and how is it planning to go about this change and where? The details via WeBetainfo suggests the messaging platform is looking to comply with the recent legislation changes in various US states like Texas, where users are mandated to confirm their age before they start using any online service, which includes WhatsApp as well.

The messaging app will show a pop-up box asking When were you born. It seems most of the states in the US have set 15 years as the age for using these digital services under the latest legal norms. So, make sure that you enter the right age, because that data cannot be revised or changed again.

WhatsApp will also inform these users that their age is required if they want to use the app. It also assures people that their age will not be shown to anyone on the messaging app and it is just for its regulatory needs and does not impact their privacy or security on the platform whatsoever.

It is important for the Meta-owned platform to adhere to local regulations and in the US having set an age limit is actually a good way to prevent major child abuse cases. In fact, we feel that it won’t be a bad idea for WhatsApp to mandate this age verification feature to more countries, as it will only help the young ones from falling prey to bad actors on the messaging app. Having said that, it is important that WhatsApp has a robust mechanism in place to check for the details fed by the user without compromising their privacy.