Tinder is one the largest and most popular dating services in the world, but unlike a lot of similar sites, it's always allowed people as young as 13 years of age to use its mobile app. As of next week, however, Tinder is banning under 18's

Tinder currently allows people aged 13 through to 17 to see only the profiles of other members that fall into the same 4-year age group. But the way it verifies an age is by checking a user's Facebook account - a system that doesn't require much effort to bypass.

The new rules will likely result in plenty of under 18's changing their birthdate on their Facebook profiles so they can use the site, but at least they'll be banned from Tinder if people report any suspiciously young-looking adults.

Tinder Spokesperson Rosette Pambakian said the company had been reviewing its policy since early this year. The change will probably affect less than 3 percent of Tinder's 50 million worldwide users, or about 1.5 million teenagers.

On a platform that has facilitated over 11 billion connections, we have the responsibility of constantly assessing our different user experiences. Consistent with this responsibility, we have decided to discontinue service for under 18 users. We believe this is the best policy moving forward. This change will take effect next week.

Bringing in the new rule isn't too surprising, especially considering Tinder's reputation and the risk of the company being held liable should any age-of-consent laws be broken.

The news arrives after Tinder CEO Sean Rad promised last week to make the site more friendly for transgender users over the coming months.