Sour pickle candy, egg ball chips and oliebollen in crazy flavors. It is all tested by Dex Lageman from Buinen. Videos of his taste tests he puts on social media and they are very popular. He had more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, but they disappeared overnight.
“My account has been deleted by Instagram because you have to be 13 years old and I’m not yet,” says ten-year-old Dex. On February 20, his parents suddenly received a notification that the @lagemannetjes account had been suspended. Dex thinks it’s a shame, but remains quite down-to-earth: “It is what it is. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
In the meantime, his mother has contacted Meta, the company behind Instagram, to challenge the decision. “We have tried to contact Meta, but that is extremely difficult,” says Rena Lageman.
The editors of RTV Drenthe also tried to get a response from Meta, but were unsuccessful. The company does not have a telephone number to call and the email went unanswered.
“It’s all AI-driven and there’s no way to speak to a human,” says Rena.
Most social media platforms in the Netherlands have a minimum age of 13 years. That’s because many of those companies have their headquarters in America. According to European rules, children under the age of 16 are allowed to use social media if they have official permission from their parents. But tech companies decide for themselves how this is monitored.
Dex’s mother believes that an Instagram account with content from children like Dex should be allowed. “Absolutely and if you as parents are on top of that, I am sure it is very safe. Because we watch every day.”
The family has therefore created a family account under the name @lagemannetjesofficial. Rena: “Hoping that it can stay that way.”
Watch the video of Dex and his mother here:
