At the current time, the minimum age for an account to be opened on Facebook is 13, which is an absurdly ridiculous and dangerous low age for someone so young to be on what purports to be a social media site, but is in actuality a devastatingly effective social surveillance site. Additionally, Facebook does not in any meaningful way, even attempt to or is it ever legally held responsible for verifying the age that users claim that they are, signifying that people even younger than 13, can sign up for Facebook, as well as people that are adults can take on the guise of being far younger or even a different sex than they actually are. This signifies that Facebook accounts are not only not always on the up and up, but that young people that are still quite credulous and vulnerable in many ways are susceptible to dealing with people that are adult predators or ne'er-do-wells as well as exploiters of all types and degrees.
The problems with Facebook are manifold of which the most fundamental problem is the fact that Facebook makes the vast majority of its money through digital advertising, and advertisers deeply desire to know their customer base well, and when they are able to access detailed pertinent information about a given individual, or a given class of individuals, they thus know that their ads will be far more effective. This thus means that someone as young as 13, is an incredibly desirable target of digital advertisers, because they then have the means to mold such a consumer into their products that these advertisers solicit, of which Facebook is the enabler of this advertiser exploitation of Facebook users.
The United States has deemed it necessary to raise the drinking age nationwide to 21, as well as many of its States have subsequently raised the age to utilize tobacco to 21; in addition, to the minimum age to utilize marijuana is also 21, as well as to gamble in casinos is set at 21. The reason that this is so is for the protection of young adults, who often can be irresponsible, and therefore these mandated age laws were passed for the better good of our youth. To therefore believe that children at the age of 13, are somehow cognizant of all the dangers of social media posting as well as being completely knowledgeable about how much of their personal information is actually being sold to outside agencies, is unfathomable; therefore, for the protection of these children, as well as for young adults, Facebook should be mandated by law, to raise its minimum age to access such to 21, immediately.
For all those that believe, that teenagers or young adults could not survive without Facebook, recognize that it is Facebook that has created this dilemma, by deliberately constructing a system that purports to be a social media site, but is in actuality a dangerous and menacing social surveillance site, that specifically puts teenagers and young adults in harm's way; because Facebook analytically analyzes and accumulates and thereupon sells their users' information for outright exploitation for the buyers of such; as well as also creating a construct in which teenagers and young adults can more easily be tracked, stalked, and harmed, all so that the purveyors of Facebook can make their money at the expense of their constituents, that blithely believe that they are on a site that will make the world a more open and connected one, but reality is that Facebook has made them into sheep so as to shear them.