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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg plans to fight federal laws banning companies collecting information on children under 13 in a bid to allow minors to open Facebook accounts.

Mr Zuckerberg made the comments at a recent technology conference, saying that he wants the law changed to allow those under 13 to use Facebook and other social media websites in a bid to 'educate' America's future workforce.

Currently companies are prevented from collecting information from children under 13 by the Children's On-line Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

But recent polls suggest young children regularly flout the law, with a massive 7.5 million U.S. children under 13 holding Facebook accounts according to a recent survey.

Target: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to allow under 13's to use Facebook and other social networking sites

Speaking at the NewSchools Summit in California, Mr Zuckerberg said: 'Education is clearly the biggest thing that will drive how the economy improves over the long term.

'In the future, software and technology will enable people to learn a lot from their fellow students.'

Speaking about the COPPA restrictions, he said :'That will be a fight we take on at some point. My philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age.

Lucrative: The under 13 market is a prime target for advertisers, and bringing them onto social networking sites would prove a boon for the companies involved

'Because of the restrictions we haven't even begun this learning process.

'If they're lifted then we'd start to learn what works. We'd take a lot of precautions to make sure that they are safe.'

Facebook is currently embroiled in three law suits involving the use of minors in adverts on the site.

The company generates two billion dollars a year in advertising revenue from major advertisers keen to exploit the benefits of its huge 500 million strong user base.

Critics have pointed out that by lifting the ban on collecting information from those under 13 the company, and many other social networking sites would stand to gain handsomely from the extra advertising revenue.

Facebook said in March the company removes around 20,000 profiles a day that breach its terms and conditions, including under-age use of the site.

Responding to Mr Zuckerberg's address, a Facebook spokesperson said: 'The site is currently designed for two age groups: 13 to 18 and 18 and up.

'However, recent reports have highlighted just how difficult it is to implement age restrictions on the Internet and that there is no single solution to ensuring younger children don't circumvent a system or lie about their age.'

A recent release from the The American Academy of Pediatrics pointed to the benefits for companies of having access to ever younger audiences.

In a statement they said: 'Increasingly, advertisers are targeting younger and younger children in an effort to establish 'brand-name preference' at as early an age as possible.

'This targeting occurs because advertising is a $250 billion/year industry with 900,000 brands to sell, and children and adolescents are attractive consumers...children younger than 12 years spend another $25 billion.

'Both groups influence perhaps another $200 billion of their parents' spending per year.'