Instagram appealed to a limited user base before it was bought by the US social media giant Facebook in 2012 and has become one of the most preferred social media applications in the world in the past seven years. Today, with more than 1 billion users, Instagram has taken a very important step in protecting children from the negative aspects of social media. As of today, the company will ask users who want to register on the platform to enter their birth date, and will prevent users under the age of 13 from opening an Instagram account; however, existing users will not be asked about their age. Users who wish to join Instagram will now need to enter their birth date: Increasing privacy controls for users, Instagram has not neglected a new privacy option that allows you to allow only the people you follow to send you messages, add you to a group, or respond to your story. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) prohibits the collection of personal information from children under the age of 13 years; however, Instagram is just taking this step. Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok want users to enter their birth dates as soon as they begin the registration process. There will be those who remember; TikTok was fined $ 5.7 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violating COPPA. The Chinese-based practice created a separate section where the children could watch videos after the punishment but could not share and comment. We didn’t want people to tell us their age because we wanted Instagram to be a place where everyone could express themselves, ”said an Instagram spokesperson, who explained why age control came to the platform so late. Of course, this does not change the fact that Instagram violates child safety laws.
