Parents To Facebook: Don't Make A Kid-Only Instagram, Just A Better Instagram Update RequiredTo play audio, update browser or Flash plugin. Parents and tech companies are both struggling with how to handle underage kids using social media apps. Rick Bowmer / AP Social media companies prohibit kids under 13 from signing up because of federal privacy law. But parents like Danielle Hawkins can tell you a different story. "She got on Instagram and Snapchat without my approval when she was about 12," Hawkins, a mom of four who lives near Detroit, said of her eldest daughter. The tech companies are well aware of this problem. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a congressional hearing in March that his company knows kids get around the age limits on apps like Instagram, the photo-sharing network Facebook owns.