Facebook has always insisted that its users be at least 13 years of age in order to establish an account. Yet, parents and marketers alike have always known that plenty of kids on the social network were well below the official age to open an account mostly because there were no safeguards in place to prevent “underage” users from opening accounts. Facebook simply requires users to submit their date of birth to set up an account. The information is not verified by any third-party source, so as long as a user enters a birth year that is more than 13 years ago, an account will be created. What is now troubling to both parents and even some marketers is the number of underage users on the network and how Facebook is using their information via user “Likes” as part of their advertising strategy, essentially without any type of release or consent.

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...

Image via CrunchBase

 

Stats on Underage Kids

In early May of this year, Consumer Reports released their 2011 State of the Net Survey, which identified several troubling findings about kids and Facebook. Specifically:

  • Of the 20 million minors who actively used the network in the past year, 7.5 million—or more than one-third—were younger than 13.
  • Among young users, more than 5 million were 10 and under, and their accounts were largely unsupervised by their parents.
  • Parents of kids 10 and younger seem to be largely unconcerned. Only 18 percent made their child a Facebook friend, which is the best way to monitor the child. By comparison, 62 percent of parents of 13- to 14-year-olds did so.

One of the biggest concerns cited by Consumer Reports was the lack of protection afforded to kids under 13 by the Federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) when posting personal information that can be publicly viewed. COPPA prohibits sites from knowingly disclosing children’s personally identifiable information and Federal Trade Commission chair Jon Leibowitz told Consumer Reports, “We are very concerned about kids eliding around COPPA’s restrictions.”

Facebook’s chief privacy adviser, Mozelle Thompson, told an Australian Senate cyber-safety committee in March that Facebook has been removing 20,000 underage users per day from the social networking site. This is a shocking statistic and unfortunately, as is shown by the Consumer Reports study, only represents a small percentage of the 7.5 million account holders under 13.

Advertising and Consent

Facebook BabyThe main question now facing the network, parents and marketers is should images of minors using Facebook be used in advertising? A significant portion of Facebook’s advertising strategy is based on converting “likes” into ads showing the user’s name and image. As Ad Age reports this strategy “is a major reason brands love Facebook so much — if a user “likes” a brand page, Facebook will spread that endorsement around the network as far as the user allows it to go.” But when the name and image is that of a child, a ten-year old, is Facebook breaking the law? Currently, the issue is in the gray area. The network refuses to comment on the matter and refers people to their Teens Safety Tips page, which does not discuss advertising or parental consent. According to Ad Age, “It barely mentions age: “It’s against the Facebook Terms to lie about your name or age.”

Facebook is currently facing three lawsuits in New York and California for using the images of minors without obtaining parental consent. In addition, Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) are floating a bill that significantly expands COPPA by prohibiting companies from deploying online behavioral advertising techniques on minors under age 18. The bill bans behavioral targeting of children under age 13, as well as teens under 18 and specifically says that Web sites aimed at minors, or sites that know they are collecting data from minors, may not use or share that data for purposes of “targeted marketing.” One key piece in this legislation would force companies like Facebook to adhere to the Fair Information Practices Principles if they wish to continue collecting information from teens under 18. These principles require companies to limit the data they collect, and obtain people’s consent before sharing their data or using it for purposes other than what it was collected for.

What to Watch For

When using Facebook to promote your brand, it’s important to keep an eye on how Facebook’s advertising strategy and the “Like” feature are working together. If you suspect you have an underage user on your brand’s page you may want to take action to protect your brand. Facebook does have a discussion board on Reporting Underage Users and a Privacy section for Parents and Educators that also addresses privacy settings and underage users. In the meantime, keep on top of the network’s continually changing settings and policies (they change practically daily) and watch for the outcome of Markey and Barton’s new COPPA expanding bill.

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