Appropriate social media regulations for young teens and children are an important part of making sure that everyone can have a safe experience online, but are they doing enough?

For instance, Snapchat requires those who use the app to be at least 13 years of age. This is designed to keep those under the age of 13 safe from other users and other dangers.

However, the app does not require any verification of age at all. A person who signs up simply has to put in a birthday that would make them over the age of 13.

This allows kids 12 and under to sneak onto the app with ease, creating an environment that is rife with dangerous opportunities.

This is the case with many social media platforms. Instagram also requires its users to be at least 13 years old, and has done slightly more to ensure accurate ages than Snapchat.

An account on Instagram that is suspected of being run by a person under 13 can be reviewed and removed if they are found to be under the age requirement, but many still sneak through.

Stronger measures need to be taken to ensure that social media users are actually of the correct age to be on these apps. Some other age verification needs to be added to the simple birthday question to lessen the amount of underage kids that can get into these apps.

If regulations are not enforced with a stronger hand, then younger users could be subject to dangerous situations.

According to the US surgeon general, Vivek Hallegere Murthy, social media provides “a profound risk of harm to kids.” 

A 25 page advisory published from the surgeon general’s office suggests that social media may contribute to “the youth mental health crisis,” the US is facing.

The document calls for more from social media companies themselves, claiming that it should no longer be solely up to parents and their kids to uphold the companies’ regulations.

This is a very fair request, as social media companies have some of the most talented engineers in the world working for them. It is not beyond expectation for them to come up with a better way to uphold their regulations.

 When social media companies require parents and their children to enforce their regulations, they put a lot of trust in the common person, who likely does not care to keep a corporation’s regulations in mind while pursuing their own means.

Without enforced regulations, underage users can be subject to cyberbullying, privacy concerns, inappropriate content, addiction and online predators.

Privacy concerns and online predators are of particular concern for younger users. Many kids do not yet understand the significance of private information and may distribute things on social media platforms that they should not. This also feeds into the possibility of online predators and information theft.

With sensitive information spread openly on social media where anyone can see it, the likelihood of someone unsavory seeing it increases greatly.