Approximately 5.6 million of Facebook users in the U.S., or 3.5% of social networking members are children under 13. The company claims that it does not allow access to them, the statistics is stemming from a 2012 study of U.S. consumers. According to Reuters, that figure is the “dirty little secret” of Facebook, not disclosed anywhere in the voluminous documentation that the company provided when it was listed on the stock exchange, and only vaguely refuted by Facebook executives.
Facebook and many other sites prohibit access to children under 13 years, protected by a special law, COPPA. Its purpose is to prevent retailers to seek personal information about children or use them for advertising. Sites must receive parental consent before allowing children access, so they should take steps to protect users’ privacy. Facebook declined to admit that many of its efforts in this direction do not work.
The problem is especially relevant now that the Federal Trade Commission is finalizing new regulations restricting companies and websites that target the young audience.
The largest online social network, with 955 million users, said that the law does not apply to them because Facebook explicitly restricts its use in people 13 years and over. The folks at Facebook have made some progress in identifying and excluding children under 13, as 800,000 such users were removed from the network in a year through a monitoring process that the company refuses to describe.
A test conducted by Reuters revealed that, in order to open an account, a child can avoid with relative ease the monitoring elements of the site. Those who are not skilled enough to bypass them often receive help from their parents. According to a 2011 study from Microsoft Research, 55% of parents of 12-year-old teenagers say that their son or daughter is on Facebook, and 76% of them say that they have helped their children to open an account.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a staunch defender of privacy, said that the potential vulnerability of children to sexual predators and to advertisements are reasons to keep those under 13 years away from most websites.
On Facebook, children are exposed to advertising on sweets, high fat content, the products withdrawn more and more from the television shows dedicated to children. According to a government report in 2011, nearly 20% of American children between 6 and 17 are obese.
Children and teenagers often reveal sensitive data on the Internet, explains Kathryn Montgomery, who teaches at American University and has been an advocate of COPPA law in 1998.
Facebook boasts 158 million users in the U.S., according to figures in May, and if it would efficiently implement the restriction on children, would lose about 3.5% of the U.S. market, concludes Reuters.
Reply