Facebook, 49 U.S. states agree on Web safety steps

By Anupreeta Das

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Social networking site Facebook announced an agreement on Thursday with 49 U.S. state attorneys general and the District of Columbia to increase efforts to protect its youngest members from sexual predators.

The additional safety measures follow a similar agreement in January struck by larger rival MySpace, which also included every state apart from Texas.

Facebook said it would focus on improving the technology it employs to weed out inappropriate online behavior, and to make it tougher for adults to make friends with minors.

The agreement reflects its commitment to "keeping kids safe online," said Chris Kelly, Facebook's chief privacy officer.

Both the Facebook and MySpace agreements were in response to calls from attorneys general to improve online safeguards.

The millions of youngsters who share everything from music tastes to intimate details of their lives online have turned social networks into hunting grounds for sexual predators.

Without checks, an adult can pose as a minor and lure a child into parting with information.

Last October, Facebook and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo agreed to settle a child safety probe after undercover tests on the social network's safety controls and procedures showed lapses.

Investigators from Cuomo's office posed as young teenagers on Facebook and received sexual advances from adults within days. Complaints by investigators posing as parents were not immediately addressed, Cuomo's office said.

Facebook then agreed to begin addressing within 24 hours any complaint about inappropriate content and allow an independent examiner to oversee how it handles the complaints.

The website is now taking steps to ensure safety, including "age-locking" of the profiles of under-18 members, Kelly said.

"If people try to change their ages, it will be specifically reviewed," Kelly said.

Another feature sends warning messages when a child is at risk of revealing personal information to an unknown adult.

Facebook also said it would immediately remove user groups dedicated to incest, pedophilia and cyber-bullying, and remove links to pornographic materials from its website.

Widgets -- entertaining applications built by independent software developers and hosted on Facebook -- will also have to enforce the social network's safety and privacy measures.