Experts Say Parents Responsible for Increased Underage Children Being on Facebook

According to experts, parents are responsible for the rising number of underage children in the United Kingdom owning a Facebook profile. Simon Milner, policy director for Facebook in the UK and Ireland, and Sonia Livingstone, professor of social psychology of the London School of Economics, have warned that parents are responsible for their children flouting the site's under-13 restrictions either by helping children create accounts or by failing to stop them, the Daily Mail reports.

Milner admitted that there is no mechanism in Facebook to stop children lying about their ages while joining the site, even though the site has spot checks and a reporting system in an attempt to protect youngsters from viewing objectionable or mature content.

Milner said that Facebook cannot make every user prove their age because of the protests on the threats on privacy, adding that the site neither 'condones' or 'condemns' parents for their decisions.

According to Livingstone, 2011 figures show that 34 per cent of nine to 12-year-olds in the UK had a Facebook profile.

She added that parents need to be firmer with their children on the issue.

Milner said that the under-13 rule of Facebook was in place because of a children's online privacy law of the United States.

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Source-ANI