POLL: Should Children Under Age 13 Have Official Access to Facebook?

I can think of at least 10 friends or friends of my friends on Facebook who were allegedly born before 1999 – but in reality are as young as 18 months old.

They could become legal users of the social-networking website soon enough, though. Facebook announced Monday that it is considering letting kids under 13 sign up for profiles. Among the ideas the company is testing are connecting children's accounts to their parents'.

Like many other online services, Facebook currently prohibits users under 13 because federal law requires companies to obtain parental consent if they want to collect information about those children. According to information from The Wall Street Journal, such information collection is central to Facebook, and every photo or status update a kid posts on could count as information collection.

In a statement, Facebook said that recent reports have highlighted "just how difficult it is to enforce age restrictions on the Internet, especially when parents want their children to access online content and services."

Proponents feel that so many kids lie about their age and sign up for a Facebook anyway that it wouldn't hurt anything to give them legal access – especially with parental oversight. Of more than 900 million Facebook users worldwide, an estimated 7.5 million are children under 13.

Opponents of the idea, on the other hand, feel that giving children access comes with a false sense of security – if parents think their kids are safe on "Baby Facebook," they won't feel the need to monitor them. Without that monitoring, it won't be long before they start a regular Facebook – and maybe a Twitter or Instagram, too.  

What do you think, Lakewood Patch readers? Should children under 13 be allowed to have Facebook profiles?