Facebook in ‘panic button’ U-turn

JUST days after it was forced to tighten its privacy settings, social networking site Facebook is to do a U-turn on its policy of not having “panic buttons” on its web pages.

Facebook had been roundly criticised by anti- bullying bodies and authorities combating child sex predators for not having a button on each section of its site allowing users who felt threatened online to quickly contact organisations such as Britain’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).

For some time, while sites such as Bebo had acknowledged the problem and installed the CEOP button, Facebook refused saying it had invested large sums of money in its reporting system.

However, Richard Allan, Facebook’s director of public policy for Europe, said the company was now working “very closely” with CEOP on the project.

Meanwhile, the new privacy settings introduced by Facebook allowing members greater control over who views their content have been given mixed reviews.

Users will now be able to set a “default privacy setting” which will allow them, if they wish, to select the people who can view their content including contact details, photographs, and updates.

Civil liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation said “more is needed” from Facebook to address privacy criticisms.

“We still have some fundamental concerns about the amount of user information being shared with third-party Facebook applications and websites.”