Facebook 101

Safety
Background
Facebook believes that by fostering and promoting a culture where people are accountable for their actions, building automated systems that flag and block suspicious activity, and working closely with public and private organizations to promote safety initiatives, we can maintain a trusted environment. Notable Activity
Convened a Safety Advisory Board in 2009 comprised of some of the most trusted global Internet safety organizations (Childnet International, Connect Safely, the Family Online Safety Institute, National Network to End Domestic Violence, and WiredSafety). Redesigned our Family Safety Center in April 2011 (facebook.com/safety) with new multimedia resources tailored to parents, educators, teens, and law enforcement. Created a Safety Page (facebook.com/fbsafety), now with over 650,000 fans, to provide dynamic safety content directly to peoples News Feeds. Participated in the March 2011 White House Conference on Bullying Prevention where we announced a new Social Reporting tool that helps people report bullying content not only to Facebook, but also to someone else in their lives who might be in a position to help. Sponsored initiatives with Time Warner, PACER Centers National Center for Bullying Prevention, MTVs A Thin Line campaign, the BBC, the National Crime Prevention Council and others focused on Internet safety education. Convened a Network of Support comprised of leading LGBT advocacy groups (GLAAD, GLSEN, HRC, PFLAG, the Trevor Project) plus MTV to address unique challenges faced by the LGBT community. Preventing suicide: Partnership with National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and dedicated reporting mechanisms across the Facebook site. Discouraging harassment and bullying: Aggressive response to user reports (24 hours), founding member of the Stop Cyberbullying Coalition. Finding missing children and runaways: Regular involvement with law enforcement to quickly relay IP data that may help locate missing teens, and regular broadcast of AMBER Alerts on Facebook. Promoting digital citizenship: 2011 public awareness partnership with Time Warner using Facebook and Time Warner properties, including the Stop Bullying: Speak Up social pledge app which has been liked by over 1 million people so far (facebook.com/stopbullyingspeakup). We have developed complex systems and tools that enhance safety and confidence in our service: Authenticate peoples identities by flagging and blocking fake profiles based on name or anomalous site activity. Respond to complaints of abuse by providing ubiquitous report links, prioritizing the most serious reports, and employing a trained team of reviewers who respond and escalate reports to law enforcement as appropriate.

History
Facebook has always been committed to promoting a safe online environment. In 2008, Facebook signed an agreement with 49 state Attorneys General to help protect children from online predators. Facebook was an active participant in the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, a group of businesses, non-profits, academics, and tech experts that worked to identify effective tools to create a safer environment on the Internet for young people. We have made the following our key areas of safety focus: Eliminating child exploitative material: Collaboration with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Department of Justice to prevent dissemination of illegal content.

Continued Commitment to Collaborate

We know that the best way to protect people and promote a safe environment is to work with parents, teachers, safety advocates, policymakers and others. We welcome the opportunity to develop new ways of promoting safety on Facebook and across the Web.

About Facebook
Founded in February 2004, Facebooks mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment. Facebook is a privately held company headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.
Updated: Nov. 2011