JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Children younger than 13 may soon be allowed to log on to one of the most popular social media sites. Facebook is considering allowing younger children to create profiles.
Facebook currently bans children under the age of 13 from using the site.
The announcement that Facebook is considering changing that policy has some parents and safety experts concerned.
"They're exposed to a lot of things inside there that they shouldn't be exposed to," parent Denetta Halls said. "That's too young."
News that Facebook is contemplating ways to allow children under the age of 13 on the site has parents talking.
"There's some pretty explicit things on there sometimes," parent Richard Fraley said. "I think you should probably be at least 16 or older."
Facebook currently prohibits kids under 13 because federal law requires parental consent for companies to collect information about children and things like photo uploads and status updates are considered information collected.
The company is reportedly looking into linking kids to their parent's accounts so they can control things like who their children add as friends.
"They say it will have parental control. Well there's a lot of things that per say have parental control that kids actually control so that's really not a deterrent," Channel 4's Safety Expert Ken Jefferson said.
Jefferson warns that even with parental control, children can still mistakenly put out private information.
"When you're talking about presenting this to a minor, it's like opening up a candy store and saying have it because kids are going to love this social networking," Jefferson said. "They're going to be divulging information they should not."
Facebook said it's talking with regulators about how to keep kids safe in the changing online environment.
Even with the current age restrictions, millions of kids log on to Facebook by lying about their age. One survey found that almost 20% of parents said their 10-year-olds used Facebook.
