A technology lawyer says that Facebook has paid a high
price for making a basic Web 2.0 mistake that sites like MySpace,
Flickr and YouTube avoid.
Investigators working for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo
posed as young teenagers and set up profiles on Facebook. According
to a statement from Cuomo's office, "they received online sexual
advances from adults within days and found widespread pornographic
and obscene content."
The investigators also accused Facebook of failing to respond,
and at other times being slow to respond, to complaints lodged by
investigators posing as parents of underage users, asking the site
to take action against predators that had harassed their
children.
Cuomo issued a subpoena to Facebook less than a month ago,
demanding sight of certain documents. It was accompanied by a
letter warning the company that "it could potentially face consumer
fraud charges for failing to live up to its claims that youngsters
on the website were safer from sexual predators than at most sites
and that it promptly responds to concerns." Facebook had also
represented itself as a “trusted environment for people to interact
safely,” according to Cuomo.
Facebook's settlement of the complaint was announced at a press
conference on Tuesday.
Under the terms of the settlement, Facebook agrees "to respond
to and begin addressing complaints about nudity or pornography,
harassment or unwelcome contact within 24 hours." It must also
report to the complainant the steps it has taken to address the
complaint within 72 hours where the complaint has been emailed to
abuse@facebook.com.
Hyperlinks must be placed "throughout Facebook's website" for
accepting complaints about nudity or pornography, harassment or
unwelcome contact. An Independent Safety and Security Examiner will
be appointed to report on Facebook's compliance.
Facebook must also provide "a prominent and easily accessible
hyperlink" to allow a Facebook user or their parent to give
feedback direct to the Examiner.
“I applaud Facebook for addressing my office’s concerns about
the site’s representation that they provided a safe environment and
an expeditious complaint review process,” said Cuomo. “I believe
our agreement will provide additional confidence to young people
and parents alike and give Facebook a competitive advantage in the
marketplace for setting a new standard for safety.”
The Attorney General's statement also quoted Facebook's founder
and CEO. “Privacy and safety have been a priority since we first
built Facebook,” said Mark Zuckerberg. “Our agreement with Attorney
General Cuomo will set new industry standards to stop abuse
online."
"We applaud the Attorney General's leadership and are committed
to working together to keep Facebook safe,” added Zuckerberg.
Struan Robertson, a technology lawyer with Pinsent Masons and
editor of OUT-LAW.COM, said that Facebook's failure to take some of
these steps of its own volition was a surprise.
"Any site that relies on user-generated content, whether it's a
small blog or a social networking giant, needs a prominent
complaint mechanism. That doesn't just help users, it also helps to
channel complaints in a way that make them manageable. I'm amazed
that Facebook didn't have that already," he said. "It's even more
important for a site that's targeting children as well as
adults."
Facebook claims to have 47 million users. Its terms and
conditions state that the site is "intended solely for users who
are thirteen (13) years of age or older". The company’s Chief
Privacy Officer, Chris Kelly, told reporters this
week that it believes 80% of users are over 18 but that it has
no firm data.
"If Facebook had had obvious complaint systems like YouTube,
Flickr and MySpace it might have avoided the Attorney General's
action. It's now stuck with onerous demands to address complaints
within 24 hours and to report on steps taken within 72 hours. Other
sites will surely fear these time limits becoming the industry
standard."
In the UK, the general rule is that website operators must deal
with complaints about unlawful third party material
'expeditiously'. Robertson said that there is no case law that
defines how fast that should be, though. "The only legislative
reference we have to a specific time limit for the removal online
material is in the Terrorism Act," he said. Where police officers
order a site to remove material that encourages acts of terrorism,
the operator must comply within two days, according to that
legislation.
