Privacy and Safety Issues

Breaching of Age Restrictions

• To comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), many general audience websites that collect personal information from their users require that their users be at least 13 years of age.
• Other websites that contain adult-oriented material such as alcohol advertisement or sexually explicit materials may require the user to be at least 18 or 21 years of age.
• The only problem is that websites do not have to verify their users’ age.
• 49% of online teens admitted to lying about their age at one time or another so they could access a website page or for an online account.
• 7.5 million Facebook users are under the age of 13.

Negative Experiences While Online:

• 41% of social media using teens reported specific negative experiences on social networking sites.
• 25% of social media using teens reported negative online experiences resulting in a face to face argument or confrontation with someone else.
• 22% of social media using teens reported negative online experiences resulting in the ending of a friendship with someone else.
• 13% of social media using teens reported negative online experiences resulting in making such person nervous about going to school the next day.
• 13% of social media using teens reported negative online experiences resulting in causing a problem with such teen’s parent(s).
• 8% of social media using teens reported negative online experiences resulting in a physical fight with another person.
• 6% of social media using teens reported negative online experiences resulting in getting such teen in trouble at school.

Witnessing of Online Cruelty and Meanness:

• 12% of teens witness online cruelty and meanness frequently.
• 27% of teens witness online cruelty and meanness sometimes.
• 47% of teens witness online cruelty and meanness once in a while.

How Cyberbullying Occurs:

• 18% of teens have claimed to have experienced mean or cruel behavior on a social networking site.
• 9% of all teens said that they have been bullied by text message during the period from July 2010 to July 2011.
• 8% of all teens said that they have been bullied online during the period from July 2010 to July 2011.
• 7% of all teens said that they have been bullied by phone calls during the time period from July 2010 to July 2011.