Young Facebook users urged to use child protection application
19 Jul 2010
New measures introduced to protect children using Facebook
A child protection button has been developed to help children and young people using the social networking site Facebook to stay safe.
This new application has been developed by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) working with Facebook to improve its young users’ internet safety.
The idea is that children and teenagers download a button which will give them direct access to CEOP’s advice and reporting centre – ClickCEOP – from their Facebook homepages.
As well as helping them with online safety, it provides a dedicated facility for reporting instances of suspected grooming or inappropriate sexual behaviour. It is also intended to act as a strong visual signal to the users’ friends, family and others that they are in control online.
Speaking at the launch of the application last week, CEOP Chief Executive Jim Gamble said: “Today 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."
There will also be an advertising campaign on Facebook to encourage take up of the application, including an automatic advert-message appearing on every homepage of users aged between 13-18 years inviting them to add it.
Facebook’s Vice President for EMEA Joanna Shield said that there was “no single silver bullet to making the Internet safer.”
She added: “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.”
Facebook users can find the CEOP application on CEOP’s new page, targeted at teenagers, at http://www.facebook.com/clickceop