Facebook had 7.5 million U.S. users under the age of 13: Survey

The social networking website Facebook Inc. had 7.5 million U.S. users under the age of 13 in the past year, according to a recent survey by Consumer Reports. More than 5 million of the users were 10 years and younger, despite Facebook’s age restrictions which require users to be 13 years or older, the survey reports.
In all, Facebook had 20 million American users under the age of 18, says Consumer Reports’ “State of the Net” survey published in the magazine’s June issue. The Yonkers, N.Y., publication conducted an online survey of 2,089 U.S. households in early 2011. “All those kids are in violation of Facebook’s rules,” Jeff Fox, technology editor for Consumer Reports told the Toronto Star on Tuesday.
The survey flies in the face of Facebook’s safety tools. Until their 18th birthday, minors between 13 and 17 on Facebook don’t have public search listings created for them, and the visibility of their information is limited to friends of friends and networks. However, the limited visibility doesn’t apply to their names, profile pictures, gender, usernames and networks, which are visible to everyone, Facebook states on its website’s privacy section.