Age falsification was reported among teens of every age, with no statistically significant variation across age groups. However, there is special interest in the activities of the youngest teen internet users, who are subject to special protections afforded by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Under COPPA, companies that have knowledge of users under age 13 on their site are required to get verifiable parental consent for the collection of any personal information from that child. For this reason, many general audience websites that collect personal information from their users (such as Facebook and YouTube) require that users be at least 13 years old. In the current survey, 36% of online teens who are 12 years old admitted to falsifying their age in order to gain access to a website or account.
Across all socioeconomic groups and geographic locations, teens are equally as likely to report lying about their age to gain access to websites and online accounts. Read the rest at Pew Internet and American Life Project.
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