Facebook Age Limit - Parents Should Know This!

Facebook Age Limit - Have you ever tried to produce a Facebook account and gotten this error message: "You are ineligible to sign up for Facebook"? If so, it's most likely you do not meet Facebook's age limitation.

Facebook and various other on the internet social networks sites and email solutions are banned by government legislation from enabling youngsters under 13 produce accounts without the approval of their parents or legal guardians.

Facebook Age Limit

Facebook Age Limit


If you were frustrated after being turned away by Facebook's age restriction, there's a condition right there in the "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities" you accept when you produce a Facebook account: "You will not use Facebook if you are under 13"

Age Limitation for Gmail and also Yahoo!
The exact same goes with online email solutions including Google's Gmail and Yahoo! Mail.

If you're not 13 years old, you'll get this message when attempting to enroll in a Gmail account:"Google could not create your account. In order to have a Google Account, you must meet certain age requirements."

If you're under the age of 13 and try to register for a Yahoo! Mail account, you'll additionally be turned away with this message:"Yahoo! is concerned about the safety and privacy of all its users, particularly children. For this reason, parents of children under the age of 13 who wish to allow their children access to the Yahoo! Services must create a Yahoo! Family Account."

Federal Regulation Establishes Age Limit
So why do Facebook, Gmail, and also Yahoo! restriction customers under 13 without adult approval? They're called for to under the Children's Online Personal privacy Defense Act, a government regulation passed in 1998.

The Kid's Online Personal privacy Security Act has actually been upgraded since it was signed into law, including alterations that attempt to resolve the enhanced use of smart phones such as apples iphone and also iPads as well as social networking solutions consisting of Facebook as well as Google+.

Among the updates was a need that site and also social media sites solutions can not collect geolocation info, pictures or video clips from users under the age of 13 without informing as well as getting permission from moms and dads or guardians.

How Some Youths Get Around the Age Limitation
Despite Facebook's age demand and federal regulation, numerous underage users are known to have developed accounts and also maintain Facebook profiles. They do so by lying about their age, oftentimes with complete expertise of their parents.

In 2012, released reports approximated some 7.5 million youngsters had Facebook accounts of the 900 million people who were making use of the social network at the time. Facebook stated the variety of minor customers highlighted "just how difficult it is to apply age limitations on the Internet, especially when parents desire their kids to gain access to online material and also services.".

Facebook enables individuals to report children under the age of 13. "Keep in mind that we'll immediately erase the account of any kind of kid under the age of 13 that's reported to us through this type," the firm mentions. Facebook is additionally working with a system that would allow kids under 13 to produce an account that would certainly be linked to those held by their moms and dads.

Is the Kid's Online Personal privacy Defense Act Effective?
Congress intended the Children's Online Personal privacy Protection Act to protect youths from predatory advertising as well as tracking and also kidnapping, both of which ended up being more common as accessibility to the Net and personal computers expanded, according to the Federal Trade Payment, which is in charge of implementing the legislation.

Yet several business have actually simply limited their advertising initiatives towards individuals age 13 and also older, indicating that children who lie regarding their age are really to be based on such projects and also the use of their individual info.

In 2010, a Pew Web study located that: Teens continue to be avid users of social networking websites – as of September 2009, 73% of online American teens ages 12 to 17 used an online social network website, a statistic that has continued to climb upwards from 55% in November 2006 and 65% in February 2008.