Social networking sites to protect consumers

Social networking sites, which have become popular amongst broadband users over recent years, have recently pledged to do more to protect their teenage users in the UK and across Europe.

According to a recent report an increasing number of teenagers who access social networking and other popular sites via the Internet are not being supervised by parents, and this could be putting them in danger. Around twenty thousand teenagers across the UK and Europe were surveyed as part of a recent study, and over fifty percent of them were able to access any site that they wanted without any supervision or problem.

The increasing take up of broadband across the UK and Europe has resulted in an increase in the number of teenagers that enjoy plenty of opportunity to access sites, and over the past couple of years a number of social networking sites have become extremely popular with people in their teens. With the unlimited access that broadband offers parents are not limiting the time that many spend online, which gives them ample opportunity to access a broad range of sites, some of which could be inappropriate.

Worryingly it was found that nearly thirty percent of teens had suffered some form of bullying whilst using the Internet, and as part of Internet Safety Day in Europe seventeen social networking sites have pledged to do more to ensure the safety of teenagers. Speaking of the number of unsupervised teens using accessing websites John Mangelaars, head of Microsoft?s consumer and online divisions in Europe said: ?We were surprised that it?s over 50% without any parental control.?

One official said that the agreement by networking sites to prove more protection was ?an important step forward towards making our children?s clicks on social networking sites safer in Europe.?

Broadband Expert