> if you're not the parent of this child, then we strongly recommend that you encourage a parent to contact us using the instructions above.
Given that the instructions are to prove ownership over the phone number as well as trying to at least somewhat link that to an underage child how exactly could this reasonably be accomplished by someone other than the parent? If you know enough to be confident that a given account is linked to a minor then there's basically zero chance that you won't also know of a way to contact their parents about it. Given the e2e nature of WhatsApp any other implementation would be akin to the "But think about the children!!!" reactionary calls to ban e2e encryption.
It's a way too common practice by kids to create WhatsApp groups with EVERYONE in their contacts as members.
Then you're just added to a group with complete randos who can immediately see your phone number and they can start posting whatever.
I've had cases where my kid has been added to a group along with older kids and their posts have not been exactly SFW. I've got zero recourse in those cases, I don't know who any in the group are. I taught my kid to remove themselves from any suspicious groups immediately and that has curbed it for now.
"we strongly recommend" jumps out to me as careful wording in a legal sense to avoid obligations on their side. They'd use different wording otherwise. "We didn't say people HAD to do exactly this. We still technically accept reporting of underage users by non-parents..."
You can only report YOUR OWN CHILD: https://faq.whatsapp.com/695318248185629
Other Meta properties are better at this though.