Facebook Age Limit: Can Kids Under 13 Have an Account? (2026)
What is the Facebook age limit, and can kids under 13 have an account? Some years ago, friends of ours had their children’s Facebook accounts suddenly disabled. They had set them up so the kids could play Facebook games with cousins, not realising Facebook’s rules forbid it. It still happens: Meta regularly removes accounts it believes belong to under-13s. Here’s what parents should know about the Facebook age limit in 2026, and the safer options for younger children.
Quick answer: You must be at least 13 to use Facebook (older in some countries). Accounts belonging to younger children break Meta’s terms and can be disabled or deleted without warning. For under-13s, Meta offers Messenger Kids, controlled by a parent. Teens aged 13 to 17 get Teen Account protections, and parents can add supervision through Meta’s Family Center.
Table of Contents
Facebook’s age rule
Meta’s Terms of Service (external site) say you must be at least 13 years old (or the minimum legal age in your country) to use Facebook. The rule exists largely because of child privacy laws such as COPPA in the US, which restrict collecting data from children under 13. When you sign up, Facebook asks for your birthday, and entering an under-13 date blocks registration.
Surveys have long found millions of under-13s on social media anyway, often with a parent’s help, by entering a false birthday.
What happens if a child under 13 has an account?
- Meta uses reports and age-detection signals to find underage users.
- Accounts can be checkpointed and the user asked to prove their age with ID or a video selfie.
- If they can’t, the account is disabled and later deleted, along with photos and messages.
- Anyone can report a suspected underage account through Facebook’s Help Center form.
Safer options for children under 13
- Messenger Kids (external site): a video chat and messaging app where parents approve every contact and control settings from their own Facebook account.
- Family group chats on a parent’s WhatsApp or Messenger, with the parent present.
- Kid-friendly platforms with parental controls, such as YouTube Kids.
Teens aged 13 to 17
- Teen Accounts on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram start with stricter privacy settings, limits on who can message them and reminders to take breaks.
- Parents can link accounts through Meta’s Family Center to see time spent and who their teen follows, and set time limits.
- Talk with your teen about privacy, scams and what not to share. Our guide to secure Facebook helps with settings.
Should parents create accounts for young kids?
We’d say no. It breaks the rules, risks losing the account and its memories, exposes children to adult content and strangers, and builds a data profile before they can understand it. Wait until 13, then set up the account together with supervision. If you already have photos in an underage account, download your Facebook data before deleting it.
FAQ
What age do you have to be to have Facebook?
13 in most countries; some countries set a higher age.
Can a parent manage a Facebook account for a child under 13?
No. Under-13s can’t have Facebook accounts, even with parental permission. Messenger Kids is the parent-managed option.
How do I report an underage Facebook account?
Use the “report an underage child” form in Facebook’s Help Center, or report the profile directly.
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I have completed the facebook form to get my granddaughter facebook account deleted at least 5 times. She is 11 and her idiot mother set up the account and claimed she is 35 but goes to elementary school. Her mom is in jail so I am the guardian. Facebook says they contact you but they don’t. I have been trying to get the account deleted for 4 months to no avail. She is in the 5th grade for pity sake. She has no business on facebook and has no boundaries.
Quite right too, children should be outside in the fresh air and getting exercise and interacting normally with other children, the schools should introduce them to major social domains like facebook so that they are exposed to what it is and how it works without wondering and trying to work it our for themselves
I always agreed with you.Pretty post.I really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you will post again soon…….
I never disagreed with you. I think its harmful for those who are under age.
i think that when they get to a certain age someone should come in and talk to the younger ones about the risks that apply for being on the internet becuase at the end of the day they are only little and when they think that they know everything its not untill they get into trouble that they want you to sort it out or they start having weirdos following them…so yeah thats what i think and it should be in years 4 and 5 to be honest
This is the good decision of facebook, the kids bellow 13 should not know the everything of life.This is learning age,school or college is first preference.
I totally agree. Children must obey the terms of Facebook and also the Internet laws.
This is really good for children. Because most of the time children wants to brows facebook till midnight, which is very bad for their health.
That’s good and must agree!
I did worry if more and more children have Facebook accounts.