An angry father has launched a suit against the world's largest social networking site after it failed to prevent a 12-year-old girl in Ireland from posing suggestive photos of herself. This has reportedly led to sexually explicit emails from men worldwide.
Currently, 7.5 million Facebook users are under the required age of 13 according to a recent Consumer Reports Study. Many, if not most are there with the casual consent of well-meaning but unwitting parents.

"As well as posting sexually explicit material, the girl also gave personal details including where she lived and the school she attended," according to the BBC. "The writ lodged in Belfast High Court on Monday alleges that Facebook had been 'guilty of negligence and had created 'a risk of sexual and physical harm' to the child."

The first question on readers' minds will be the whereabouts of the parents when the girl created the profile to begin with. The father had, in fact, shut down his daughter's original Facebook profile, so she launched another one. The girl, who suffers from emotional problems, was in the custody of Northern Health and Social Care Trust when she posted the offending images. The father is suing the agency also.

This matter echoes that of another when, earlier this month, a U.S. federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Village Voice Media, filed by an underage prostitute claiming its Backpage.com classifieds site enabled her exploitation.

Facebook has terms of use on its side, which are violated by any user under 13 who continues to click onwards. Facebook also offers the resourceful Family Safety Center, which was launched earlier this year, for those conerned with child safety.. "We believe safety is a conversation and a shared responsibility among all of us," reads the Safety Center introduction.

"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," the father's lawyer, Hilary Carmichael, explained to the BBC. "An age check, like asking for a passport number would be a simple measure for Facebook to implement."

A fantastic idea in theory. However, logic begs that such a requirement is more trouble than Facebook, Google, Titter - or any other site - want.