The ever-growing social networking site Facebook has agreed to add a “panic button” application that its users can install. The button will connect the user to the UK-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center (CEOP) and provide the users with advice for staying safe while using online services.
Facebook, which has already been under fire for its privacy issues, has also received complaints from child advocacy groups that believe it should do more to safeguard children from would-be predators and others who might seek to exploit naive Facebook teenagers.
Facebook users between ages 13 and 18 will be presented with a message as soon as they log on, offering them the opportunity to add the application. The application will also be integrated with Facebook’s reporting system and make friends aware of potential dangers.
The negotiations between Facebook and CEOP began last year, as other social networks began adopting the ClickCeop but Facebook refused. When a 17-year-old girl was raped and murdered by a 33-year-old registered sex offender she met on Facebook, the pressure on Facebook increased. Many UK law-enforcement workers were among those who wrote letters asking Facebook to implement the ClickCeop on every Facebook page.
Sophy Silver, the Facebook UK head of communications told the BBC, “We still have the Facebook reporting system and by having a pre-packaged application that users play an active part in, you not only help keep them safe, it makes all of their friends aware too, and acts as a viral awareness campaign”.
“Ultimately though, this makes for a safer environment for users and that’s the most important part.”
Tags: Facebook, panic button
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