When will Niantic sort of Friends and Trading for Under 13’s

I'm just taking a couple stabs here since I don't know what any of those acronyms mean, maybe it has to do with being able to send/receive gifts as part of the friend system? When gifts are sent their exact location is included on the post card, someone with less than golden morals (to put it lightly) could compile that information and track where the kid is at on a regular basis?

Since it's through PTC, maybe they have their own restrictions regarding under 13's that are carried over into PoGo? There could be something in PTC's ToS that prevents under 13's from participating in social aspects. If that's the case, it's out of Niantic's hands and more in the hands of PTC. If I'm guessing correctly, those acronyms are likely about sharing data with the company providing the service, not with other users. Do you know if under 13 accounts linked to a Gmail or Facebook suffer the same restrictions?

Agree. As a parent of said kid, I'd be comfortable with lying about their age to Niantic for game purposes. Is that editable?

I'm in the same boat with my daughter, and I'm not sure there is an adequate answer to this issue.

When you send a gift, you are sending the other player a way to track your movements. Not Niantic - the other player. That's a hell of a potential security issue, even if the possibility of it becoming used is extremely remote, and if it were to ever happen, it would be a PR nightmare for Niantic and Pokémon in general.

Even leaving aside the ability to track another person, can you imagine a 12yr old being groomed by a Pedophile, and they communicated via the gift system when and where to meet up? It's ridiculously easy - change the name of the buddy to "8:00pm" and send a gift from the Pokestop or Gym where to want to meet, and now there is a time and a location that is essentially untraceable. So the child's access to the internet is controlled, they can't play the game without you being around... well, how often do you actually look at the Pokestop or Gym associated with the gift being sent you? How often do you read the name of the Buddy being walked? This could be done right under the noses of the parents.

Is it likely to happen? There are millions of players, worldwide - so maybe the likelihood is too high for Niantic to take the chance.

If this is even part of their reasoning why not to allow under 13's to do this when they're part of the PTC, anyway.

One of the US laws prevents U13s from using social media or providing consent to websites. If you look at FB, they don't allow U13s. This is Niantic's take on best practices.

Tbh, I tied my kids' account to my PTC account I use for the online TCG. Conveniently avoids any age issues AND lets me control it.

Never and and honestly I hope it's never opened up for children under 13. The last thing this world needs is another tool that sickos can use to track and lure children with.

Firstly, it is a protection and not a discrimination. You mention these (American) acronyms, so you are aware that there are privacy and protection issues on the internet for minors. Your country has clearly found it a serious enough issue to address it directly.
On this basis, I am sure that you can understand that this comes from a protectionism perspective. To claim it to be 'discrimination' is just trying to paint it as a negative rather than a positive - because it suits your wants in this instance.
This game gives very specific location information about a player to what could in fact be a relative stranger. In the wrong hands this could be used for very nefarious deeds.
I am sure I don't need to carry on....this is all very obvious stuff - and clearly something you have considered in your life outside of PoGo specifically.

Secondly, you mention protections or system designed for America and Americans. They don't even cover me, my children. They are worthless and useless here, as they are in most parts of the world. This game is played world wide, and US laws will not always cover everything.
Sure, American laws dictate how Niantic operate as they are located there, but Niantic have to cover themselves to operate in many different countries with varying different laws, or they will simply be stopped from operating in some countries.

They are simply erring on the side of caution, when dealing with such a sensitive topic of information about minor on the internet, and ensuring they cover all laws in all countries so that they are not prohibited from distributing their product.

With all that said....seriously, you are trying to paint this as discrimination? WTF? Wow.
You can't actually be serious about that can you?
You can't be completely ignorant of the reasons why Niantic would be limiting 'information giving' content for minors...can you?

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/97lq5p/niantic_kids/

First step towards improving child accounts might be coming soon.