Only two social networking sites (Bebo and MySpace) tested on behalf of the European Commission have default settings to make minors’ profiles accessible only to their approved list of contacts and only four sites ensure minors can be contacted by default by friends only (Bebo, MySpace, Netlog and SchuelerVZ).
However, a majority of 14 social networking sites tested do give minors age-appropriate safety information, respond to requests for help and prevent minors’ profiles from being searched via external search engines.
The number of minors using social networking sites in the EU is growing –currently 77 per cent of 13 -16 year olds and 38 per cent of 9 -12 year olds who use the internet.
The results feature in a report just published by the Commission on implementation of the ‘Safer Social Networking Principles for the EU’, a self-regulatory agreement brokered by the Commission in 2009 to keep children safe online. As part of the objective set by the Digital Agenda for Europe to enhance trust in the internet, the Commission has launched a review of the current self-regulatory agreements for the protection of minors online.
Twenty one companies have signed the Safer Social Networking Principles to date: Arto, Bebo, Dailymotion, Facebook, Giovani, Google, Hyves, Microsoft Europe, MySpace, Nasza-klasa, Netlog, One, Rate, Skyrock, VZnet Netzwerke, Stardoll, Sulake, Tuenti, Yahoo! Europe and Zap.
Neelie Kroes, vice president of the European Commission for the Digital Agenda said: “I am disappointed that most social networking sites are failing to ensure that minors’ profiles are accessible only to their approved contacts by default. I will be urging them to make a clear commitment to remedy this in a revised version of the self-regulatory framework we are currently discussing. This is not only to protect minors from unwanted contacts but also to protect their online reputation.”
The possibility of tagging people in pictures, offered by most social networking services, makes it very easy to search for a person’s photos online. Teenagers may face other risks online such as grooming and cyber-bullying. Children and teenagers need appropriate safety tools to manage their online identity in a responsible way.
The tests, carried out between December 2010 and January 2011, looked at 14 websites: Arto, Bebo, Facebook, Giovani.it, Hyves, Myspace, Nasza-klaza.pl, Netlog, One.lt, Rate.ee, SchülerVZ, IRC Galleria, Tuenti and Zap.lu. Another 9 sites will be tested later this year.
The report found that 13 out of the 14 sites tested provide safety information, guidance and/or educational materials specifically targeted at minors (all except Arto).
Safety information for minors is quite clear and age-appropriate on all sites that provide it, good progress since the first assessment last year. However this information is still difficult to find on many websites.
Reporting mechanisms are more effective now than in 2010. In a majority of these cases responses came in less than a day.
Nine sites (Arto, Bebo, Facebook, Giovani, Hyves, Netlog, One, Rate and SchuelerVZ) provide Terms of Use that are easy for minors to understand and/or a child-friendly version of the Terms of Use or Code of Conduct.
Bebo, Facebook, Myspace, Nasza-Klasa, One, Rate and SchuelerVZ provide safety information for children and parents which is both easy to find and to understand.
In addition, the report found that 12 of the 14 websites (all except Rate and Zap) make it impossible for the profiles of minors to be found through external search engines such as Google or Yahoo!, compared to six websites in 2010. However, on most websites profiles of minors could be found by other non-friend users via the internal search engines.
According to a EUKidsOnline survey earlier this year, 56 per cent of 11 -12 year olds and 78 per cent of 15 -16 year olds say they know how to change privacy settings on their social network profile.