Teens under 16 could be blocked from Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and even email if they don’t have parental permission.
The European Union is on the verge of pushing through new regulations that would raise the age of consent for websites to use personal data from 13 to 16.
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This would mean that millions of teens would have to get parents permission whenever signing up to a social media account, downloading an app or even using search engines.
Failing to comply would mean fines for internet companies.
Almost all major social media services, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Google, currently have a minimum age of 13, in compliance with European and American laws.
Some question how that could be regulated but they could probably could invest some algorithm to track whether you’re 13 or 16 – but at the end of the day you could just say: ‘Oh well my mom said I could sign up to it’.”
