60% of Russians wish to bar children from social networks – poll

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(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 16, 2013) Some 57% of Russians polled by the Superjob.ru portal support the idea of banning children younger than 13 from social networks.

Another 17% expressed their support but said the age limit should be higher (49% stand for 16 years and 21% for 18).

Fourteen percent were against and 12% could not answer the question.

The portal polled 1,600 Russians with children younger than 16 on April 15-26.

Chairman of the Federation Council Committee for Information Society Development Ruslan Gattarov proposed earlier that children younger than 13 should not be allowed to visit social networks without parental consent. In turn, Russian Communications and Mass Media Minister Nikolai Nikiforov suggested that “the existent law with regard to information unwelcome for children would be a sufficient and efficient measure.”

“Network anonymity is an Internet property by default,” he said.

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