Facebook finally agrees to launch panic button to protect young users

Rosie Khdir looks into the safety agreement made between Facebook and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) following months of discussions.

Facebook has agreed to launch a new application which will act as a panic button on users’ profile pages. The decision has come after much debate on how child safety online should be tackled.

The application is aimed at children and teenagers who want to report abuse to the CEOP, and is said to give them the feeling that they are in control online.

The popular social networking site was originally against the idea after CEOP, a government law enforcement agency that tracks down online sex offenders, called for it to be implemented in November 2009.

More people began to call for such a device after the rape and murder of 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall. Her killer was a 33-year-old convicted sex offender, who she met on Facebook – he posed as a teenage boy.

Bebo was the first social networking site top adopt the button, followed by MySpace and now finally Facebook.

Jim Gamble, CEOP’s chief executive, said in a statement to the BBC:

“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.”

The CEOP has also decided to set up a Facebook page reporting on a variety of topics that are of interest to teens, and then link these subjects to safety online.