- Soon, WhatsApp will ask certain users to fill in their birth year in order to continue using the app.
- Your birth year will not be shown in the app.
- Instead, it appears this prompt is in response to certain US states having age verification laws.
Recently, certain states in the US have 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, it looks like Meta is getting WhatsApp ready to comply with these laws. According to WABetaInfo, the latest beta version of WhatsApp for Android (v.2.24.12.25) includes code that presents certain users with a prompt asking for birth year information. The prompt warns you that you cannot change the information later and that you are required to provide it to continue using WhatsApp.