1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser

Zuckerberg Wants to Abolish Facebook Age Restrictions

It should surprise no one that many users on Facebook are below the required age of 13, but what you may not know is that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg seems alright with that. During a talk at the California NewSchools Summit, Zuckerberg voiced his desire to allow younger users to use the ubiquitous social networking platform. From ZDnet:

“That will be a fight we take on at some point,” Zuckerberg said according to CNN. “My philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age. Because of the restrictions we haven’t even begun this learning process. If they’re lifted then we’d start to learn what works. We’d take a lot of precautions to make sure that they [younger kids] are safe.”

The minimum age of 13 is set by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, a federal law passed in 1998. His statement is particularly bold; though social media is certainly pervasive it is not universally accepted or even trusted. Many recent news stories have highlighted online bullying of young people, some ending tragically. Facebook itself has faced a backlash as of late, with some people leaving the site, voicing displeasure about how the site handles personal information, and even creating alternatives.

It’s very easy to dismiss Zuckerberg’s dream of opening Facebook even further as simply an attempt to grow its user base. However, Zuckerberg may be riding the edge of a change in opinion.Fox News report notes that the percent of parents that feel comfortable allowing their child to use social media has doubled over the past year, reaching 17% of those polled. Moreover, 7.5 million Facebook users are under 13, and 5 million of those are under 10. If youngsters cannot be stopped from using the service, then perhaps Zuckerberg is right and Facebook be adapted to better suit those users. Providing stronger content filters, or parental notifications for instance.

To realize any of this, Zuckerberg will first have to mount a campaign to change the law, and perhaps even deal with angry parents and users who want to keep Facebook clear of youngsters. How the divisive CEO plans on doing any of that is anyone’s guess, but it should be interesting to watch.

(Fox News, ZDnet, image via Paul Mayne)

  • Anonymous

    Mark Zuckerberg – the new digital paedophile! If you ever heard this guy speak it would be painfully obvious he is not in charge of anything, especially Facebook.This guy is just a puppet for all the data miners and of course lining up anyone of any age would be perfect – enlist them while they are still impressionable for life long customers.“That will be a fight we take on at some point…” Jeesh – he equates legally allowing kids access to probably the most worthless Web site ever created a ‘fight.’ Speaks volumes about his public sensibilities and family values. Again, the worst public speaker I ever heard try to convey a message.

  • Anonymous

     FACE-SMASH BITCH It all started when DAVID was logged in to the Harvard website,(2003) where I was listening in to the conversations of the Harvard students. One of these students was Mark Zuckerberg who was talking about Face Smash and he had just broken up with his girlfriend at the time, so I struck up a conversation with this Mark Zuckerberg. He was talking about creating a dating site. I thought this was a bit odd – a pie in the sky idea since he had just broken up with his girlfriend and he was slaging her off – calling her a bitch and a whore.dave talked to Mark about the idea, and suggested he call it Face Mash. He was intrigued with my suggestion and thought it was a good idea. Mark wanted to call it Face Smash, because he wanted to smash his ex in the face. I convinced him that Face Mash was a good idea and he agreed, but one week later he changed his mind and wanted to call it Face Smash. When I queried him about this he replied ‘f…. off you c…- I’m calling it Face Smash’. Two weeks after this conversation he came up with the name Mashable and when I asked him why he chose the word Mashable instead of Face Mash he said ‘f,…off you bastard, Face mash is not your idea’. So I re-posted the conversations we had two weeks earlier and he had to apologize and said he was going with Mashable. I took this as a sign that he wanted to throw me off the scent and take the site for himself. dave found the character of Mark Zuckerberg to be deceptive and dishonest and ended conversing with Mark Zuckerberg because of his dishonesty and lack of integrityTHIS THE PERSON YOU WONT FOR YOUR CHILDREN

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5XSO2C3FE7I3INVFD4AADWYZ5A gjhtryre gfhtery

    Your satisfaction is our eternal pursuit.HTTP://WWW VOGUECATCH COMWe specialized in the exportation of sport shoes and other products(clothing, bag,sunglasses,watches,belts,etc )which have great enjoyed popularty in the world market Many of our goods are on sales ,we can guarantee the crediblity by Pay-pal and delivery time .we would like to make a long termship.1)Name : The perfect gift.2)Grade : AAA+3)Package : in original boxes4)Color : various5)MOQ : 1 pc6)Payment : Pay-pal/Western Union / Credit card7)Ship-ping : 4-7 days with guarantee of customs clearance, drop shipp-ing is accepted to customers’ demands.8)Who-lesale: very low price, you can make a small order first to test quality and service.HTTP://WWW  VOGUECATCH.COM

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=687991878 Dave Diem Martinez

    It’s glaringly obvious Mark is not a father. No way would I let my daughter on under 12 — should we trust him it’s “safe”? Like when their advertisers were reselling data with no penalty? Or they were hacked into numerous times? Or advertising our purchases without our express permission? Or…..?

  • Anonymous

    Mark sees nothing beyond the dollar signs, he doesn’t live in the real world.  


Abrams Media Network click here for advertising opportunities

© 2012 Geekosystem, LLC | About Us | Advertise | Newsletter | Jobs | Privacy | User Agreement | Disclaimer | Power Grid FAQ | Contact | Archives | RSS RSS
Dan Abrams, Founder | Power Grid by Sound Strategies | Hosting by Datagram