Facebook accused of violating children’s privacy law

San Francisco: Several US groups advocating public and children’s health have urged the federal trade regulators to take action against social media giant Facebook for allegedly violating children’s privacy law.

The 18-member group led by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) on Wednesday said the groups have filed a complaint asserting that Facebook’s Messenger Kids, a controversial messaging application for children as young as five, collects kids’ personal information without obtaining verifiable parental consent, Xinhua reported.

Facebook Messenger Kids’ privacy policy is incomplete and vague, because any adult user can approve any account created in the app and “even a fictional ‘parent’ holding a brand-new Facebook account could immediately approve a child’s account without proof of identity,” CCFC said. It further accused Facebook of disclosing data to unnamed third parties for “broad, undefined business purposes.” The CCFC said the advocacy groups have sent Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg a letter signed by over 100 experts and advocates earlier this year to ask him to remove Messenger Kids from its platform. (IANS)