Social media probablly has a place for adults, but do children actually need it?

This new research is very flawed and has several financial conflicts of interests not disclosed. First, Facebook forces parents and kids to lie because it refuses to set up a COPPA compliant section for children. Facebook is fearful of creating an opt-in regime precedent where users would begin demanding for the right to control what data is collected and how it is done. Facebook is a privacy problem, stealthily tracking and targeting a user and their friends for digital marketing. The paper fails to address why privacy on Facebook is a special concern. If parents had been told when they were questioned about Facebook’s data practices, a different set of responses would likely have been given. COPPA has been a success, because the kind of data practices found everyone online once someone turns 13 aren’t generally found on commercial kids sites.

The study was funded by Microsoft Research. Among the conflicts that should be noted: Microsoft owns a small piece of Facebook; its ad division focuses on social media marketing; the Research division itself works on online ad targeting; and Microsoft is involved in the COPPA regulatory proceeding now at the FTC. It has a financial stake in the outcome of the COPPA proceeding. Readers of the research should have been told about the many conflicts.
Jeff Chester, Center for Digital Democracy
http://www.democraticmedia.org