‘Belly of the beast’: From 13, kids treated as adults online

Worries over the platforms’ potential to harm youth have spiked after a scathing Wall Street Journal series revealing the social media giant’s own research showed it knew of the damage Instagram can do to teenage girls’ well-being. — Dreamstime/TNS

WASHINGTON: Facebook drew outrage for its now paused plans for an Instagram app for kids aged 12 and under. But 13-year-olds are already welcome on social media with few protections and sometimes tragic effects, experts and parents said.

That’s because 13 effectively serves as the age of majority online under a two-decade-old law, and is the minimum set by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat – all of which are massively popular among children.