Instagram will start cracking down on underage users (sort of)

Instagram is finally trying to stop underage users from using its app. Well, kind of. 

Beginning today, it’s requiring new users to provide their birth date in order to verify that they are at least 13 years old, the minimum age allowed on the service. 

Instagram is not, however, requiring existing users to provide their birthday, meaning any underage users already on the app shouldn’t have any issues sticking around. That’s in contrast to Facebook and many other social networks, which have made birth dates a required part of the sign-up process for years. 

The update comes one day after TechCrunch published a piece criticizing Instagram for not enforcing its age restrictions. Unlike Facebook, Instagram is extremely popular among younger kids.

Now, Instagram is taking some steps to limit younger users’ access to the app. Besides requiring birthdays for new users, Instagram will also pull in birth dates from Facebook if you’ve connected your accounts, though the company says it won’t show birthday info to your followers.

Even though Instagram is, for now, only taking minimal steps to enforce its age rules, the update could pose problems for some users. If an existing user chooses to add a birthdate that indicates they’re under 13, the company will temporarily suspend the account until their age can be verified with a government ID. 

Twitter did something similar last year when the company began asking for users’ ages in response to Europe’s new privacy laws and ended up locking out many older users who had originally signed up for the service when they were under 13. Many businesses, which sometimes listed their company’s founding date as their “birthday,” were also inadvertently locked out. 

Instagram may delete accounts that list an age as younger than 13 and aren’t able to verify their age, according to a company spokesperson.

Elsewhere, Instagram is also (finally) adding controls that let people choose who they want to receive direct messages from. A new setting allows users to choose whether they want to receive message requests from everyone or only people they follow. It also lets them choose who can add them to group messages. 

These updates come as Instagram works to make its app more “supportive,” especially for younger users who are more likely to be bullied. The company is also experimenting with hiding like counts, which it says is meant to reduce the amount of social pressure associated with the platform.