Meta Platforms is preparing to allow children under the age of 13 to use its messaging service, WhatsApp, provided their accounts are created and supervised by a parent or guardian.
According to information gathered by Okay News, the new system will allow parents set up the accounts and link them to their own profiles, enabling parental controls. These controls will allow parents to decide who can contact their child, which groups they can join, and adjust privacy settings. The under-13 accounts will be limited to messaging and voice calls only and will not include features such as statuses, channels or Meta’s AI chatbot.
The accounts must remain connected to a parent’s profile until the child turns 13. After that, parents can choose to delay unlinking the account for up to one year. While parents will not be able to read their child’s messages because the chats remain end-to-end encrypted, they will receive alerts about changes such as group growth or disabled disappearing messages.
According to Meta, the move comes after requests from parents who wanted a safer way for their children to use the platform. The company said it does not have exact figures on how many under-13s are already using WhatsApp but acknowledged that many children are already accessing the service.
Regulators in the United Kingdom say they will continue monitoring the rollout to ensure the feature complies with children’s data protection standards and online safety rules.
