Children's rights campaigners are upset if social media company Meta dropped the minimum age requirement to use WhatsApp in Europe from 16 to 13.
On Thursday, the new age restriction went into effect throughout the European Union. In February, users in the UK were also informed that the minimum age would now be 13.
According to the messaging service, the modifications guarantee "a consistent minimum age requirement for WhatsApp globally," which Meta (META) bought 10 years ago.
Children's rights activists in the UK, meanwhile, have criticized the lower age restriction, saying that it exposes young people to a greater number of well-documented internet risks.
WhatsApp was urged to revoke the new policy in a statement released on Thursday by the UK-based campaign organization Smartphone Free Childhood. Co-founder Daisy Greenwell of the company stated, "WhatsApp is prioritizing shareholder profits over the safety of children."
She expressed her opinion that lowering the age restriction is "completely tone-deaf" and disregards the growing chorus of concerns about the negative effects of social media use on children being raised by scientists, physicians, educators, child safety specialists, parents, and mental health professionals.
CNN was informed on Friday by a WhatsApp representative that "all users have options to control who can add them to groups and that they can report and block an account the first time they receive a message from an unknown number."
A request for comment has not been answered by the executive body of the EU, the European Commission.
This article was originally published on CNN.