Facebook is adapting to the new EU data protection regulation and wants to better protect the digital privacy of young users.

As the Stuttgarter Nachrichten and PC Welt report, the social network Facebook will only be fully usable from the age of 16 in the future. In the future, users between the ages of 13 and 15 will have to obtain their parents' permission to make certain profile information public, such as religious affiliation or political views.

Guardians can also decide whether their children are shown personalized advertising based on data from other companies or whether their children's sexual orientation is publicly visible.

There is still an age limit of 13 years for pure use of the platform.

In the wake of the GDPR

From May 25th, the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force across Europe and Facebook will adapt.

The social media giant emphasizes that the new GDPR does not explicitly require checking the age of users, but that Facebook wants to make “appropriate” efforts to verify the necessary parental consent.

Children under 16 should have the opportunity to provide their parents' Facebook profile or email address. Facebook then sends a request to confirm the profile settings to this specified contact.

Facial recognition now also in Europe?

There is also an innovation when it comes to facial recognition. While this function has been part of many countries for six years, the use of the function has been heavily criticized in this country. However, after long legal disputes, facial recognition is now set to make its way into Europe and Canada.

However, according to Facebook, use is voluntary and can also be deactivated.

With facial recognition, Facebook suggests tagging friends in photos and videos. This could also be helpful in the case of fake profiles to combat the misuse of photos. Restrictions for young people also apply here, as the feature is only available from the age of 18.

Emigration of under-24s

According to eMarketer, it is questionable whether the new security measures will help young people perceive the platform as “cool” again. According to the market research company's forecast, Facebook is expected to lose more than two million teenage users this year. The network has been struggling with a “churn problem” of under-24s for some time.


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