New York state, Facebook to settle probe-sources

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The New York State attorney general and Facebook Inc have agreed to a settlement of a child safety probe targeting the fast-growing social network site, people familiar with the deal said on Monday.

Terms of the settlement were not immediately available.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a statement late on Monday that he planned to hold a press conference on Tuesday "to announce a major development involving social networking Web sites."

Cuomo's office declined to comment further ahead of the news conference to be held in lower Manhattan. A spokeswoman for Facebook declined to comment.

Cuomo said late last month that he had subpoenaed Facebook to learn what more the social networking site could do to protect young users from sexual predators and for failing to respond promptly to user complaints about such safety issues.

Top social networks MySpace, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and Facebook have come under fire from state regulators for failing to do more to police their sites against adults who prey on teenagers, one of the biggest groups using social network sites.

Separately, Facebook is under investigation by a working group of attorneys general representing all 50 U.S. states. (Reporting by Eric Auchard in San Francisco)