Facebook Facing Lawsuit After 12-Year-Old Girl Posts Lewd Photos

Facebook is facing yet another lawsuit.

A Northern Ireland man is suing the company, claiming that Facebook is "guilty of negligence" and had created "a risk of sexual and physical harm" after his 12-year-old daughter uploaded provocative pictures to her page, according to the BBC. Perhaps more importantly, the father is also upset because of his daughter's age.

While Facebook maintains a policy of verifying that users are over 13, there are no checks in place to make sure they're telling the truth. At the time the lawsuit was filed, Digital Trends reported, the girl's father claimed that Facebook had not yet removed the girl's profile.

"My own personal view is that Facebook isn’t suitable for under-18s, but the company isn’t even able to uphold its own policy of keeping under-13s out," said Hilary Carmichael, the father's lawyer told Digital Trends.

According to the BBC, while Facebook has "come a long way" in terms of privacy and age verification, there still aren't enough checks in place. Carmichael, as a result, is advocating for a passport verification system to better track who is using the site.

Privacy issues have long been an issue for the social network, but there seems to be little they can do in regards to age verification. While this example may show how easy it is to lie and bypass the simple age check, the social network has pushed for less anonymity and more openness online.

“I think anonymity on the Internet has to go away,” Facebook's former head of marketing, Randi Zuckerberg, said in July, as reported by The Huffington Post's Bianca Bosker.

In effect, stricter age restrictions and identification policies on Facebook could lead to less anonymity. Whether or not the lawsuit holds remains to be seen.

Back in March, Australia's Daily Telegraph wrote that Facebook's chief privacy adviser, Mozelle Thompson, addressed the Australian Senate cyber-safety committee and said each day the social network removes 20,000 profiles believed to belong to children under 13. In May, a Consumer Reports survey found that 7.5 million underage users maintained largely unsupervised profiles against Facebook's policy.

Comments

[Jamie Reed]

10:17 PM on 10/04/2011

i am sorry but it is NOT facebooks fault. do not blame facebook for legal guardians lack of using parental controls on the computer.

[CHC74]

07:35 AM on 09/12/2011

Let's get something straight here - This child was in the care of social services at the time the photographs were taken and posted.

Her father found her original profile and reported it, it was removed. She then signed up for a new account and continued to post photos. The child has severe learning difficulties, hence being in care.

The father is suing a) Facebook to try and make them enforce their own "no under 13's rule" so his daughter (and yours) is not able to repeatedly sign up for an underage account and b) Social Services because she was allowed unsupervised internet access whilst in care enabling her to post these images.

It seems to me that the father is actually trying to be a good parent. And before the "Well, if he was such a good parent the child wouldn't be in care" crap starts, not all parents of kids in care are crap.

Read the story before condemning people. And to all you parents out there, do you know EVERYTHING your son/daughter does, all the time? What movies do they watch at sleepovers? Who are they texting and what sort of stuff are they talking about? What do they say on MSN? Are they sexting? You'll probably never know.

[nohopepope2187]

05:51 PM on 09/08/2011

Limit your child's internet usage?
Stop blaming other people for the way you raised your child?
Grow up?

[nohopepope2187]

05:53 PM on 09/08/2011

If I were FaceBook, I would counter-sue on the grounds that, by having allowed his child to upload 'lewd' photos, the father was being negligent in the first place.

[spinnerator]

10:12 AM on 09/09/2011

I agree, why should the father profit from his abysmal parenting?

[Red The Grey]

04:01 PM on 09/08/2011

He should also sue the manufacturers of the computer she was using, the monitor, and the ISP for allowing internet access. He then should sue the power company for providing electricity and sue the makers of the cameras that let this poor girl take pictures of herself

[AKQueenie]

04:00 PM on 09/08/2011

Good job, parents! Way to raise your children to be honest and humble!

[Oregonian76]

01:19 PM on 09/08/2011

It would seem to me that this father is the negligent one. How can he sue Facebook when he isn't watching his daughter to begin with? Why does his 12-year old daughter have lewd pictures of herself in the first place?

Unfit parents like this make all parents look bad... *sigh*

[David Yamaguchi Roe]

07:26 AM on 09/08/2011

It is very easy to make a fake profile, especially with posting in politically sensitive sites.

[the hostess]

06:11 AM on 09/08/2011

I don't think that Facebook should be held responsible. The girl herself should be held responsible. She posted the pictures; she should face the consequences. It's really that simple. 12 years old is old enough to know better. Her father should punish her, not Facebook. It's not Facebook's fault that she decided to be lewd and indecent--it's hers.

[alone ranger]

06:26 AM on 09/08/2011

very true.............why is it, that some of the dummies in our society, love to put the blame on others, when they commit offensive actions.......somthing like our president.......who is still blaming everyone else, for his failures

[wakohnen]

05:46 AM on 09/08/2011

Why is it that some parents do not want to be responsible for their childrens actions? Why doesn't the father accept the blame? If you let Facebook babysit your 12 year old then you get what you get, don't file suit against facebook. He should have suit filed against him for child neglect.

[cdavecrz]

05:42 AM on 09/08/2011

who bought the computer she used to do this???? Did dad allow her to get on facebook? Did he even care enough to know she was on facebook,,, I say its a problem at home,,, not facebooks

[dickjjdic]

05:15 AM on 09/08/2011

Tuff. Your to fault. Period.

[Brian Childers]

04:48 AM on 09/08/2011

Where would she get the inclination to post lewd photos of herself?Dad,what does she do when she is at home,or out "playing"?dad should be investigated for neglect.And where is the mother?

[twowhitedogs]

04:41 AM on 09/08/2011

Hey pops perhaps you should be a little more concerned with what your kid is up to than handing out lawsuits! You have only yourself to blame.

[lita m]

04:08 AM on 09/08/2011

When stories like this first hit the news a while back, he should have checked to see what his under-age daughter was up to. Don't allow your child to have a computer in their room--for this very reason. It should be in a public area--den, study, a corner of the living room, etc. Don't give your child administrative priveliges, give him/her a guest account--and use your administratiive status to block certain web sites. Be her dad, not her "friend;" she'll have dozens of friends in her life who will come and go. She only has one dad.

[Averagedancer]

04:06 AM on 09/08/2011

The guy is reaping in the cash because his kid isn't properly supervised. Hmmm........anyone?