Terrifying WhatsApp groups now available to children after app lowers age

Meta owns Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Threads (Picture: Getty)

WhatsApp is under fire for reducing the app’s minimum age as an investigation revealed children as young as nine have been added to malicious groups – including those promoting self-harm.

The BBC found children in primary schools had also been exposed to sexual violence and racism on the app.

In Tyneside, Northumbria Police have sent thousands of parents a warning about the dangerous groups.

One parent, Mandy, revealed her 12-year-daughter had seen sexual images and racism, in addition to swearing that ‘no child should be seeing’.

The BBC said screenshots from one chat it had seen included images of mutilated bodies.

‘I immediately removed her from the group but the damage may already have been done,’ said Mandy, whose name has been changed.

‘I felt sick to my stomach – I find it absolutely terrifying.

‘She’s only 12, and now I’m worried about her using her phone.’

Meta, which owns WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, told the BBC all users had ‘options to control who can add them to groups’.

Molly Russell followed more than 40 Instagram sites that were connected in some way to anxiety, depression, self-harm or suicide (Picture: PA)

In 2017, 14-year-old Molly Russell ended her own life while suffering from depression. An inquest found the ‘negative effects of online content’ played a contributing factor, with Molly able to access material that ‘shouldn’t have been available for a child to see’.

Campaigners have accused Meta of putting profits first with its ‘tone deaf’ move to lower the minimum age for use from 16 to 13 in the UK and Europe.

Campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood co-founder Daisy Greenwell said: ‘WhatsApp is putting shareholder profits first and children’s safety second.

‘Reducing their age of use from 16 to 13 years old is completely tone deaf and ignores the increasingly loud alarm bells being rung by scientists, doctors, teachers, child safety experts, parents and mental health experts alike.’

Speaking to The Times, she added: ‘Among parents, WhatsApp is seen as the safest social media app, “because it’s just messaging, right?”.

‘And in that way it works like a gateway drug for the rest of the social media apps. If you’re messaging your friends on WhatsApp, why not message them on Snapchat?

Meta is lowering its minimum age for WhatsApp (Picture: Getty)

‘WhatsApp is far from risk-free. It’s often the first platform where children are exposed to extreme content, bullying is rife and it’s the messaging app of choice for sexual predators due to its end-to-end encryption.’

Conservative MP Vicky Ford, a member of the education select committee, said Meta’s decision to reduce the age recommendation without consulting parents was ‘highly irresponsible’.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak told the BBC the Online Safety Act would give the regulator powers to ensure social media companies are protecting children from harmful material.

He said: ‘They shouldn’t be seeing it, particularly things like self-harm, and if they don’t comply with the guidelines that the regulator puts down there will be in for very significant fines, because like any parent we want our kids to be growing up safely, out playing in fields or online.’

WhatsApp said the change was bringing the age limit in line with the majority of countries and protections were in place.

Meta this week unveiled a range of new safety features designed to protect users, in particular young people, from ‘sextortion’ and intimate image abuse.

It confirmed it will begin testing a filter in direct messages on Instagram, called Nudity Protection, which will be on by default for those aged under 18 and will automatically blur images sent to users which are detected as containing nudity.

When receiving nude images, users will also see a message urging them not to feel pressure to respond, and an option to block the sender and report the chat.

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