Facebook to add bullying, predator safeguards
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BY STEPHANIE REITZ / The Associated Press
Facebook, the world’s second-largest social networking Web site, is adding more than 40 new safeguards to protect young users from sexual predators and cyberbullies under an agreement with officials nationwide that was announced Thursday.
The measures include banning convicted sex offenders from the site, limiting older users’ ability to contact subscribers under 18 and participating in a task force set up in January to find ways to verify users’ ages and identities.
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“The agreement marks another watershed step toward social networking safety, protecting kids from online predators and inappropriate content,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
Officials from Washington, D.C., and 49 states have signed on.
Facebook, which has more than 70 million active users worldwide, already has enacted many of the changes and others are in the works, its officials said Thursday.
“Building a safe and trusted online experience has been part of Facebook from its outset,” said Chris Kelly, Facebook’s chief privacy officer. “The attorneys general have shown great leadership in helping to address the critical issue of Internet safety, and we commend them for continuing to set high standards for all players in the online arena.”
Texas did not endorse the agreement or a similar one reached in January among the other states, the District of Columbia and MySpace, the world’s largest online social network with 200 million users worldwide.
Texas officials say they want the sites to work faster on verifying users’ ages and identities.
Law enforcement officials say MySpace, Facebook and other online networks have created a new venue where sexual predators could lie about their age to lure young victims. The networks also have empowered cyberbullies, who have sent threatening and anonymous messages to classmates, acquaintances and other users.
John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, said research shows online bullies are far more common than sexual predators.
The issue has gained national attention after recent high-profile cases, including the 2006 suicide of a 13-year-old Missouri girl who was victimized by an Internet ruse. Megan Meier hanged herself after receiving nasty online comments from a MySpace friend who turned out to be fictional, invented by two acquaintances and the mother of one of those girls.
Facebook and MySpace let users block online bullies and others from contacting them. They also can conceal their “online now” status and use privacy controls to limit who can view their images and other measures.
Among other measures, Facebook agrees to:
- Ensure companies offering services on its site comply with its safety and privacy guidelines.
- Keep tobacco and alcohol ads from users too young to buy those products.
- Remove groups whose comments or images suggest they may involve incest, pedophilia, bullying or other inappropriate content.
- Send warning messages when a child is in danger of giving personal information to an adult.
- Review users’ profiles when they ask to change their age, ensuring the update is legitimate and not intended to let adults masquerade as children.
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