TORONTO – Facebook says it has considered opening up the site to children under the age of 13.
While the current rules state that kids must turn 13 before signing up for Facebook, many are ignoring that rule, often with the help of their parents.
Facebook chose 13 as its minimum age because of the terms of the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act in the United States.
Get daily National news
Read more: Privacy Commissioner recommends users disable ‘frequent locations’ setting on iOS 7
The act states that companies shouldn’t collect information from anyone under the age of 13 without parental consent.
But Facebook says it has discussed ways of letting kids under 13 use the site without violating the act.
- AI stocks drop as tech companies call to slow down development for safety
- King Charles to discuss AI with company executives as threat fears mount
- How Google, Meta are implementing its ‘age assurance’ tech in Canada
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says AI industry needs to give safety measures time to catch up
Read more: Facebook changes privacy settings, users can no longer hide from search
In 2011, a Facebook official was quoted as saying that about 20,000 underage accounts were being deleted every day.
A spokesman for Canada’s privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said that consultation would be important if Facebook planned to begin accepting younger users.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.