Facebook finally launches panic button for kids’ safety
- Added:
- Jul 13, 2010
Facebook has finally launched its much-anticipated 'panic button' on its site, as the social networking giant looks to increase protection of its young users.
The ‘ClickCEOP’ button lets Facebook users (especially those aged between 13 and 17) report suspicious online behaviour and access internet safety advice with the launch of the new application.
They can report any abuse to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) and Facebook.
Access to the ClickCEOP button will be provided via an application that users can add or bookmark so that it appears on their homepage as not only a constant source of help and reassurance for them but also as a strong visual signal to their friends, family and others that they are in control online.
The application will be backed by a new CEOP page that, when ‘liked’, will look to engage with young people to help raise the profile of online safety.
The move is also being supported by extensive wide spread advertising on Facebook that will encourage take up of the application.
This will include an automatic advert-message appearing on every homepage of users aged between 13-18 years inviting them to add the application.
Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre said: “Our dialogue with Facebook about adopting the ClickCEOP button is well documented – today however is a good day for child protection.
“By adding this application, Facebook users will have direct access to all the services that sit behind our ClickCEOP button which should provide reassurance to every parent with teenagers on the site.
“We know from speaking to offenders that a visible deterrent could protect young people online. We urge all Facebook users to add the app and bookmark it so that others can see that they’re in control online."
The agency called for a panic button to be installed on social networking sites last November.
Bebo, which was recently sold by AOL, is said to be the first social network to add the button with MySpace following suit. Facebook initially resisted the change, saying its own reporting systems were sufficient.
CEOP’s new Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/clickceop) will contain polls, news alerts and status updates.
The page will look at topics that teenagers care about, such as celebrities, music and exams, and will link these subjects to questions about online safety.
The CEOP page will also give users the option to add the new ClickCEOP application.
Joanna Shields, Facebook’s Vice President for EMEA said: “Nothing is more important than the safety of our users, which is why we have invested so much in making Facebook one of the safest places on the internet. There is no single silver bullet to making the Internet safer but by joining forces with CEOP we have developed a comprehensive solution which marries our expertise in technology with CEOP’s expertise in online safety.
“Together we have developed a new way of helping young people stays safe online and backed this with an awareness campaign to publicise it to young users. It is only through the constant and concerted effort of the industry, police, parents and young people themselves that we can all keep safe online – whether on Facebook or elsewhere.”
The launch follows months of negotiation between Ceop and Facebook. Ceop is a UK government law enforcement agency which tracks online sex offenders.
http://www.facebook.com/clickceop
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