The world's second largest social network Facebook (with 70 million active users worldwide) has entered into an agreement with US officials wherein it will add over 40 new safeguards to protect its young users from sexual predators and cyberbullies. A similar agreement was signed by the world's largest social network MySpace (with 200 million users worldwide) in January this year.

US officials from Washington DC and 49 states have signed the agreement; Texas hasn't endorsed it in much the same way it did not -- the agreement with MySpace.Facebook has agreed to adopt precautionary measures such as banning convicted sex offenders from the site, limiting older users' ability to contact subscribers under 18, even participating in the task force that was set up in January to find ways of verifying users' ages and identities.

To enlist, Facebook has agreed to:
# ensure that companies offering services on its site comply with its safety and privacy guidelines

# keep tobacco and alcohol ads from users who are too young to purchase these products

# remove groups whose comments or images suggest they may be into incest, pedophilia, bullying, or other inappropriate content

# participate in the Harvard-based task force set up in January under the national agreement with MySpace; the task force is constituted by scholars, prosecutors, businesses, state officials, and child safety advocates

# send warning messages when a child is in danger of giving personal information to an adult

# review users' profiles when they ask to change their age, ensuring the update is legitimate and not intended to let adults masquerade as children


Many of the changes have already been enacted, according to Facebook officials.

Announcing the agreement along with his counterparts in other US states Thursday, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal reportedly said, "The agreement marks another watershed step towards social networking safety, protecting kids from online predators and inappropriate content

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said, "Social networks that encourage kids to come to their sites have a responsibility to keep those kids safe. We've now gotten the two largest social networking sites to agree to take significant steps to protect children from predators and pornography."

Chris Kelly, Facebook Chief Privacy Officer, said, "Building a safe and trusted online experience has been part of Facebook from its outset. The attorneys general have shown great leadership in helping to address the critical issue of Internet safety, and we commend them for continuing to set high standards for all players in the online arena."

Social networks such as Facebook and MySpace have been under fire lately for attracting the wrong kind of people; sex predators who tend to lie about their age to lure young victims into chatting, sharing images, and even meeting in person, and empowered cyberbullies who've gotten round to sending threatening and anonymous messages to classmates and even entire schools in the US.

Apparently the protections included in the MySpace and Facebook pacts would be eventually expanded to smaller networks like Friendster and Bebo to ensure childrens' overall safety online.