The previous minimum age for users was 13-years
WhatsApp will ban people under 16 years from using its app in Europe - including Ireland.
The extremely popular messaging service is raising the minimum age at which people can register to use it from 13 to 16.
The move comes ahead of new data privacy rules coming into effect in May.
In a statement, WhatsApp said people living in Europe “must be at least 16 years old to use our services”.
The new data laws forcing the change is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect in the European Union on 25 May.
However, it's not known how WhatsApp intends to enforce the ruling.
