Are you getting a pop-up on Instagram asking you to tell the app your birthday? If so, then you are not alone, as several users across the internet are reporting that Instagram is asking users about their birthday; concisely, the Meta-owned photo-sharing app is forcing users to enter their birth date. And Instagram has a reason for why it is doing so.
Here’s why Instagram is asking for your birthday
Instagram wants to reduce the number of minor users below the age of 13, so it is asking users for their birthdays. If you remember, Instagram never forced users to tell their birth date while signing up for the app, which allowed minor users even below the age of 13 to sign up. However, around eight months ago, Instagram made the age verification process mandatory, and now it’s going even more strict on that. It seems to be a good move to make the app safe for kids after the company dropped its plan for an Instagram for Kids version.
“Before you can continue using Instagram, you need to provide your birthday, even if this account is for something like a business or pet. This helps us protect younger people in our community. We’ll also use your birthday to help personalise your experience, including ads. It won’t be part of your public profile,” reads the Add your birthday page on Instagram.
Instagram uses Facebook’s data to cross-verify a user’s age
Also, it is now not possible to bypass the age verification as Instagram is employing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm to detect fake birthdays. The Meta-owned photo-sharing app says that it is using users’ Facebook data to cross-check the birthday entered by the user, and a user will only be able to sign up if the birth date matches with the birth date from Facebook’s data.
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