Digital Smarts - Age Verification on Social Media

Why is thirteen the magic number when comes to age restrictions on social media? Is it the age on which most experts and parents agree that young teens are definitely mature enough for social media? Nope.Thirteen is actually the age stated by the federal government under the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA) at which companies can start collecting personal information about kids without parental or a guardian’s permission. And this is why kids under thirteen are not “allowed” to join social media sites – because companies don’t want to get caught collecting information on kids under thirteen. It is not a safety precaution. It is about privacy and, even more important, the fines imposed by the federal government - $40,00 for every violation of evidence of an underage user. Thankfully this age “barrier” also has had the unintended side effect of “discouraging” kids from signing up for social media until they are thirteen - generally, a mostly positive consequence.

So, how do sites and apps verify a user’s age? It varies, but mainly they rely on an honor system. Asking for the user’s age is called an age gate, and some sites merely ask for an age and others ask for an age and a birthdate, claiming that only users will be able to see the age and birth info. Facebook and Instagram do have moderators that lock the accounts of any users they stumble across that they suspect are under 13 (It is amazing how many kids brag about how they have ‘beat’ the system). Users must upload government-issued proof of age to regain control of their account. Facebook and Instagram are also working on a verification system requiring Facebook and Instagram birthdates to match, but it is a far from perfect system and kids know that there is very little consequence to getting caught being an underage user.

What should you do when your child comes home and asks to be on Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat because all her friends are on social media? Ultimately, the decision is up to you. But if, knowing the maturity level of your child, you do allow your less than thirteen year old to go onto a social media site such as Facebook, there are some things you should keep in mind. First, conspiring with kids to lie about their age so that they can join a social media site not only equates to you lying as well, but also admits to your child that sometimes it is ok to lie. Second, if you do decide to allow your child to have a profile on such a site, you should monitor her activities very closely and be sure you friend her and have access to her email account. There are many pros to using social media for kids, but there are cons as well, and you need to make sure you and your kids keep talking about what they are doing and seeing online. The Common Sense Media site and this blog are good resources for how to help your child use social media wisely at any age.