Facebook Offers More Safety to Children

After long negotiations, social networking site Facebook agreed Thursday on a safety plan with the attorneys general of 49 states and Washington D.C., just like its rival MySpace did, a few months ago.

"We've agreed with 49 states and the District of Columbia to set up principles around Internet safety," Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly explained in an interview with CNET News.com.

According to the agreement, Facebook is to implement new safety measures and develop existing ones. The profiles of members who are under 18 will be locked and people will not be allowed to change their ages on the site.

Facebook is supposed to supervise the inappropriate content and harassment on the site. It will monitor a list of pornographic websites and links to such sites and immediately remove such kinds of images or content. Groups referring to incest, pedophilia and cyber bullying will be removed, as well as the profiles of members who have been identified as registered sex offenders.

Authorities’ concern about children rose as the popularity of the social networking sites grew. With MySpace estimated to have about 200 million users and Facebook about 70 million, this could be a good environment for predators to find victims.

"Social networks that encourage kids to come to their sites have a responsibility to keep those kids safe," said North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, as quoted by the BBC News.

Kelly said Facebook already did its best to offer children safety on the site, and this would be one more step to increase safety.

"We have invested a great deal of effort to build a safer, more trusted environment," Kelly said.

Facebook is also vowing to act quickly when responding to requests to remove inappropriate content and groups.