MySpace removes 90,000 sex offenders from network

ABOUT 90,000 sex offenders have been identified and removed from social networking website MySpace, the company and US legal chiefs said.

The number was nearly double the MySpace original estimate last year, said North Carolina attorney general Roy Cooper, who with Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal, has led efforts to make social networking websites safer for young users.

Mr Cooper said he was not surprised by the updated numbers and demanded that MySpace and rival online networking site Facebook — which claim to have more than 280 million users combined — do more to protect children and teenagers.

“These sites were created for young people to communicate with each other. Predators are going to troll in these areas where they know children are going to be,” he said.

“That’s why these social networking sites have the responsibility to make their sites safe for children.”

The attorneys general received agreements last year from MySpace and Facebook to push towards making their sites safer. Both sites implemented dozens of safeguards, including finding better ways to verify users’ ages, banning convicted sex offenders from using the sites and limiting the ability of older users to search members under 18.

Blumenthal, who received MySpace’s updated numbers through a subpoena, said the data “provides compelling proof that social networking sites remain rife with sexual predators”.

A preliminary number of sex offenders found on Facebook was “substantial”, but he said the company had yet to respond to a recent subpoena.

MySpace executives said they were confident in the technology they used to find, remove and block registered sex offenders. The company uses Sentinel SAFE, a database it created in 2006 with the names, physical descriptions and other identifiable characteristics of sex offenders that cross-references against MySpace members.

MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, has more than 130 million active users worldwide.

A spokesman for Facebook, which claims more than 150 million active users, said protecting its users had always been a priority. “We have a policy prohibiting registered sex offenders from joining Facebook,” said spokesman Barry Schnitt. “We are glad to be able to report that we have not yet had to handle a case of a registered sex offender meeting a minor through Facebook. We are working hard to make sure it never happens.”

Meanwhile, Facebook is giving its 150 million users a mystery virtual gift to celebrate its fifth birthday. The gift shop’s presents usually range from cuddly bears to a pint of beer and from champagne to a four-leaf clover.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg said: “In the spirit of celebrating connections between people, we encourage you to use this gift to give thanks to [those] you are connected with on Facebook.”