Children Under Age Have Social Networking Profiles

According to a recent survey of the European Commission (EC), the number of children who use social networking sites have increased. In fact, 50 percent of children aged 9 to 12 years in the UK already have a profile. EC expressing overall, 43 respondents who had their young have a survey on social networking profiles. Especially for the age group 13 to 16 years and even increased to 88 percent.

Results of a survey of 25 thousand young people across Europe, one in 10 respondents claimed to have a public profile, in which one-fifth claimed to display the address and phone number.  Age group 9 to 12 years were more likely to display their important information in the public domain. But only half of respondents aged 11 and 12 years claimed to understand how to change the privacy settings in various social media.

The results of this survey clearly worrying, given the fragility of young Internet users. "The number of children who access social networks increases, but most of them have not done the necessary steps to protect themselves," said Neelie Kroes as EU commissioner for the digital agenda.  "All social networking sites should immediately restrict access to the profile of these children only to the list of contacts that has been approved as well as through search engines," said Neelie Kroes.

Neelie Kroes also appealed to the sites that have not been registered in the European Union regulations relating to use of social networking is safe to immediately register.  In 2009, 17 companies including Bebo, Google and YouTube, Microsoft Europe, Myspace and Yahoo Europe have enrolled in these regulations in order to improve the security of social networking users under the age of 18.