Facebook to lift ban on under-13s joining website

Washington, May 21 (ANI): Social networking giant Facebook plans to relax a ban on children under the age of 13 joining the website, according to a report.

According to a senior Facebook employee, the decision to lift the restriction came after finding that many kids, some with their parents' permission and help, were already signing up.

If the decision to lift the ban is implemented, a flood of new users are likely to sign up to the site, which currently has nearly 900 million active users, The Daily Mail reports.

Meanwhile, Simon Milner, head of policy in Britain for Facebook, said the decision to allow children to create profiles was still at a very early stage.

"There is reputable evidence there are kids under 13 who are lying about their age to get on to Facebook. Some seem to be doing it with their parents' permission and help," Milner added.

The announcement came soon after Facebook's floatation on the stock market for a price of 38 dollars per share, a valuation that puts the company's worth at over 100 billion dollars. (ANI)