A father has sued Facebook for failing to enforce its age restriction policy after he claims his daughter was exposed to online sexual predators at the age of 11.
The man, who has remained anonymous, secured an undisclosed payout from the social networking website.
A trial had been due to begin last Monday after four years of legal wrangles. It is understood the social networking site settled out of court.
Allegation: The family's lawyers claimed Facebook had a 'duty of care' towards the girl and was 'negligent' (file picture posed by model)
His daughter, from Northern Ireland, who is only referred to as GS in legal documents uploaded sexual pictures of herself online and used a series of Facebook accounts to contact men.
The accounts were later taken down by the social network.
But the family's lawyers claimed Facebook had a 'duty of care' towards the girl and was 'negligent' because it has no system in place to stop users from misrepresenting their ages.
Court documents obtained by The Sunday Times said: 'By registering an account and using Facebook the child might be exposing herself to sexual predators or other grave risks affecting her emotional and physical health.'
Age restriction: On its help pages, Facebook (based in California, above) urges users to report anyone aged under 13 using the site and shows parents how to delete their child's account
They added: '[Facebook] are obviously aware that children who should not be using Facebook are doing so by using the simple device of misrepresenting their age.'
Last night the NSPCC warned of the perils of sexual predators targeting children online and called for social networking websites to enforce their age restrictions.
A spokesman for the charity said: 'Social networks have a duty to help protect young users from those who wish them harm and they need to take those responsibilities seriously; age verification is a key part of that.
'Although users of Facebook should be over 13 we know there are many children under that age with profiles. Sexual offenders may trawl social networking sites looking for vulnerable children, and lie about who they are to gain their trust. The consequences can be devastating.'
The girl's father spent four years locked in a legal wrangle with Facebook, which last year reported profits of £1.9billion.
On its help pages, Facebook urges users to report anyone aged under 13 using the site and shows parents how to delete their child's account, but there are no measures in place to enforce the age restriction.
Social media: It emerged that Facebook had reached a confidential settlement with the family before a trial
Yesterday the father's solicitor Hilary Carmichael said: '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 company isn't even able to uphold its own policy of keeping under-13s out
Hilary Carmichael, father's solicitor
'An age check, like asking for a passport number, would be a simple measure for Facebook to implement.'
A survey carried out by website knowthenet.com revealed that 52 per cent of 8 to 16-year-olds admitted ignoring Facebook's age policy when signing up. By the age of ten, 59 per cent of children have used a social networking site, the survey found.
Yesterday a spokesman for Facebook said: 'People have to be 13 to sign up to Facebook. When we become aware that someone is under 13 and they have therefore lied about their age, we remove their account.
'Regarding this legal case, all the parties are bound by the confidentiality terms – including Facebook.'
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