As Meta lowers it's minimum age restriction on WhatsApp, parents are urged to be aware of the dangers and told how to make it safer
Parents are being urged to take some simple steps to help their child stay safe when using WhatsApp. It comes as Meta – owners of WhatsApp – lowered the minimum age rating from 16+ to 13+ in the UK and EU.
‘Profits before childhood’ Campaigners fear that reducing the age of use from 16 to 13 sends a message to parents that WhatsApp is safe for children. Now more children can use the platform, parents are urged to be aware of the dangers and the safety controls that can be installed to help protect their child.
Location sharing The live location feature means that your child could reveal their current location to others. This feature can be used in groups as well as individual chats so your child could reveal this information to people that they don’t know if they are in the same group. WhatsApp also allows users to join group chats where lots of people can contribute, and there’s a danger children can be added to groups and begin communicating with people they don’t actually know.
Parents are urged to have a look in WhatsApp’s settings to get familiar with them. This can be done by opening up WhatsApp and clicking the ‘settings’ cog and then selecting ‘privacy’.‘Change the group settings’ To prevent children being added to groups by people they don’t know, the NSPCC recommends changing the group settings to ‘My contacts except’ and using the tick icon to select all contacts.
3. Talk about sharing Internet Matters – a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping families keep their children safe online, says: ‘Make sure your child understands what personal information is. This could include their full name, where they live, what school they go to and questions about their family members.
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