Facebook introduces ‘panic button’

FACEBOOK has joined forces with a British child protection agency to create a “panic button” application on its site, it was announced yesterday, as the social networking giant finally gave in to calls to do more to protect youngsters online.

The application allows youngsters to report suspicious behaviour to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and Facebook.

The launch of the service marks a turnaround for Facebook which initially resisted calls for a so-called panic button after the murder of a teenage girl in 2009 was linked to the site.