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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Facebook (I know!) Profiles for Children.

56 replies

PaulAnkaTheDog · 12/08/2015 22:19

Thought I'd try and get some opinions on this. Was on Facebook and noticed my colleague had been tagged in photos on a family day out. The photo's were on a Facebook profile that belongs to her niece, who is seven. Yes, seven. A quick click on the girl's profile and I can see her pictures, comments from her parents and grandparents and can see where she has been 'checked in' to places.

AIBU to feel totally weird about this? It doesn't personally affect me, I know, but I have honestly never come across children having Facebook profiles. Profiles that must have been set up by the parents, or at least with their knowledge. I know it's massively unlikely that anything would ever happen to this wee girl but so much information is just there publicly! Down to her location at certain times.

OP posts:

MadamArcatiAgain · 12/08/2015 22:22

I know it's massively unlikely that anything would ever happen to this wee girl

and there you have it!

so much information is just there publicly! Down to her location at certain times.
historic information about where she was with her family!!!

paulapompom · 12/08/2015 22:25

'Rules' of fb are that you have to be 13 or over to have an account. Last school I worked at some pupils 'fiddled' their year of birth to make them old enough to have accounts and one ended up being aged 43!!!

I don't like it, but there's not a lot to be done if the parents are ok with it

ollieplimsoles · 12/08/2015 22:28

don't like it personally but wouldn't stop other people from doing it.

Now those people who set up and maintain a profile on behalf of their babies ...now theres an AIBU.

I'm talking updates like this 'I've just been sick all over daddy'

getbusyliving · 12/08/2015 22:30

You can report it to fb and they will remove it. It's anonymous and fb are pretty efficient at shutting underage accounts down

BiscuitMillionaire · 12/08/2015 22:33

You have to be 13 to have a fb account - same for almost all social media accounts. Report it.

Original poster

PaulAnkaTheDog · 12/08/2015 22:43

Madam but surely the parent's are doing the child a massive disservice by allowing this? And talk about passing on poor internet awareness on to your child! Also, what if the child has a mobile phone and was to use it and 'check in' when at the park with friends? It is just wrong.

Seriously though, is this quite common nowadays?

OP posts:

ollieplimsoles · 12/08/2015 22:47

PaulAnkaTheDog

I agree with you, this can't be the norm, I remember the awareness ads for parents, always monitor who your child is talking to online, keep the computer in an open space so you can check what your child is doing.. what happened to that?

Littlecaf · 12/08/2015 22:48

Maybe mention to your colleague what you could see and if you can see it, how many other people can see it. Perhaps the child parentshasn't understood the privacy settings.

avocadotoast · 12/08/2015 22:51

getbusy can you? I tried to report my cousin's 5 year old daughter's profile once and couldn't find an option to report for her being underage.

ollieplimsoles · 12/08/2015 22:57

avacado I think you need to select something like 'other reasons' and write that the account holder is underage...an account when she is five! how on earth did she manage that?!

Original poster

PaulAnkaTheDog · 12/08/2015 22:57

avocado I've googled out of interest and as usual Facebook don't make it simple. There's a separate page to report, not the usual report at the top of a page.

OP posts:

Original poster

PaulAnkaTheDog · 12/08/2015 22:58

Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks this is nuts!

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EveryFrickingNameIsTaken · 12/08/2015 23:07

I personally don't like it. Ds used to whinge on about how his friends all had an account but he didn't, I told him that he could set one up when he was 13. He's now 14 and still doesn't have one but that's his choice, he thinks it's pointless and doesn't really want to know what everybody is doing every second of the day! But yes, I've also heard of people reporting underage profiles.

Ps. PaulAnkaTheDog, love your NN. I'm a huge GG fan.

getbusyliving · 13/08/2015 00:06

Avocado I'm not on fb anymore but a few years ago I reported an eight year old who was in my daughters class and I remember the account was shut down pretty quickly. There is an option you tick stating account holder is underage and you're asked to give holders real age.

getbusyliving · 13/08/2015 00:14

Paulanka I don't think it's just nuts it's really irresponsible; the personal safety issues aside, there is also the issue of the child being exposed to unsuitable material. I really don't understand the parents thought processes when they set up these accounts????

Original poster

PaulAnkaTheDog · 13/08/2015 00:56

EveryFricking GG is amazing! One of the very few shows I can watch over and over again. Rory and Lorelai get less and less appealing with each run though...

getbusyliving It's just stupid! Why on earth does a child need a Facebook account?!

OP posts:

Doobigetta · 13/08/2015 06:00

Several of my friends have accounts for their babies, and post on them as the babies. The accounts I get- it means they can post photos for grandparents without bombarding everyone who is less interested. (Or it would mean that, if twitting Facebook hadn't started showing everyone everything friends of friends of friends do). But the posting- make it stop. "Here's me eating yummy hummus, nom nom". "Mummy says I'm growing up just like Daddy". It's so cringeworthy. Just awful, I'm embarrassed for them.

TurquoiseDress · 13/08/2015 06:11

YANBU!
I've got friends who created their daughter's FB account when she was about 6 months old!

Jomato · 13/08/2015 06:42

My niece is 7 and she appears to have a Facebook account, I don't think she knows what Facebook is and she definitely has no responsibility for posting on it. Her dad set it up when she was a baby and posted for a couple of months since then it has become the family's account. Neither parent has a profile so they tend to use hers to post occasional photos and updates. Really can't see why anyone would have an issue with that. Does anyone actually think a 5 year old has started and is maintaining their own profile?!

honeylulu · 13/08/2015 09:19

After a lot of nagging I let my 10 year old have a fb account which I monitored. Thought "what's the worst that can happen?"
Massively wrong decision. He had been taught about internet safety at school but it had gone in one ear and out of the other. Left himself logged on in a public place and on another boy's phone. Nasty little sod posted foul racial abuse and messages. Police involved. I had to take time out of work to deal. Almost excluded from school until police got to bottom of it. Massively wrong decision on my part to have allowed it. There are age limits for a reason.

MmeLindor · 13/08/2015 09:25

What do people think happens when kids turn 13yrs? Do they get a visit from the Internet Safety Fairy?

I'm not a huge fan of kids using FB but it's an arbitrary age limit, set because FB has to comply with US laws on storage of personal data of children.

My daughter has had an Instagram account since she was 11 years old. I check it regularly, and while she has had a bit of bother (due to a 'friend' bullying her), we worked it out together and she's now more confident about blocking and reporting, and talking to me or a teacher about it.

It depends massively on the child and how responsible they are - and it starts and ends with parents talking to the kids a lot about internet safety - not just scary tales of paedos wanting to view their photos, but also about reputation management, and how they are perceived via their online posting.

Bellemere · 13/08/2015 09:29

My ex set this up when we separated. We had control of it, not our children. It was just an easy way for both sets of family to see what the children had been up to and we were able to see each others photos.

Sadly, someone reported them and the accounts were deleted as we couldn't prove their ages (obviously..) There were photos on there that have been lost forever.

MmeLindor · 13/08/2015 09:33

Don't get me started on people who report these profiles. Why would you do that?

I can see the point if the child is being stupid perhaps, but not just because you think that you know better.

Original poster

PaulAnkaTheDog · 13/08/2015 09:37

Belle surely you must have copies of the photos somewhere? Memory card, cloud etc? Why did they need separate accounts if it was just so family members could see photos?

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G1veMeStrength · 13/08/2015 09:38

My 8 and 10 year olds get a lot of internet safety messages from school - and also from us - they have an internet code of conduct they have to sign to be allowed to use the school IT.

It works really well. Currently they hate the idea of facebook - I'm on it and sometimes ask them if I can put their photo on, and the answer is always no. They don't want me to even mention them. As a result if you look at my facebook you'd think I am the most self centred person as I never talk about my family :)

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