Welcome for Facebook Safety Move

12 July 2010 News

NORTHERN Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, Patricia Lewsley today welcomed moves by Facebook and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) to improve online safety.

A new application launched today means Facebook users – and especially young people – have access to information and can report issues directly from their profile.

“The internet has been a powerful tool for good for most children and young people,” said the Commissioner. “But there are a small minority who want to harm children and young people use online sites to target them.

“This joint initiative from Facebook and CEOP means that Facebook users between 13 and 18 can download an application to their user profile that helps keep them safe and gives them access to more information  in their ‘news feed’.”

Ms Lewsley said that parents should talk to their children to make sure they use the application.

“I hope all children and young people that use Facebook use this application and their parents must support them in this.”

ENDS

The ClickCEOP application can be accessed at:

http://applications.facebook.com/clickceop

The ClickCEOP Facebook page can be accessed at:

http://www.facebook.com/clickceop