WhatsApp May Soon be Asking You for Your Birth Year
The new feature will only be seen by WhatsApp users in select states in the United States in line with age verification laws.
WhatsApp users in the United States might soon be providing vital information as Meta announced that it is subjecting WhatsApp to new changes in line with the U.S. age verification laws.
This comes after up to 12 states in the U.S. passed age verification laws intended to curb children’s access to pornographic materials as well as protect children from accessing sites without their parents’ permission.
The laws are popping up at a fast pace in mostly Republican states across the nation. There are also bills in various stages of development in other states.
Now, Meta wants to comply with these laws as well and is now getting WhatsApp ready in the latest beta version for Android (v.2.24.12.25) by including a code that presents certain users with a prompt asking for birth year information.
The prompt warns users that they cannot change the information later and that they are required to provide it to continue using WhatsApp.
From all indications, you will only see this prompt if you live in a state with age verification laws in the United States or you are visiting that state. Meta also made it clear that it will not show anyone your birth year information within WhatsApp, as it is only presenting this form to comply with local laws.
Henry Chikwem
Right now, the new feature is still in the beta phase and has not been released officially to the public. However, given that WhatsApp needs to be compliant with U.S. legislation, we expect the feature to be released soon to over 98 million WhatsApp users in the U.S., per data from Verloop.io.
